


Friends, Love, and A Stalker

by Kore007



Category: Flashpoint (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Mystery, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-16 12:06:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 52,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7267471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kore007/pseuds/Kore007
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taking place about 2 years after the finale of the TV show FLASHPOINT, Team One has had several losses, including Jules' best friend's (Rian's) brother. As Rian gets closer to Team One, particularly Spike Scarlatti, Team One will have to face a stalker who's behind much more than they originally thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Bank

CHAPTER 1:

RIAN’S POV

The building was relatively quiet, soft voices, and the sound of typing permeating the warm stillness of the air. I pulled my hair so it fell over my left shoulder and pooled on the counter I was currently leaning over. I frowned as my dark red hair, once again interfered with the deposit slip I was writing on. I reached into my jeans pocket, hoping to find… bingo. my hand wrapped around a hair-tie and I used it to quickly pull my hair back away from my face

I need to get my hair cut.

Between thinking about when would be a good time to cut it, and fidgeting with it, I managed to fill out the deposit slip, glancing at my paycheck and smiling. I loved teaching and even though I had to put up with hormonal teenage males all day the paycheck certainly made up for it.

I placed the chained pen back on the counter and made my way to the tellers. Thank god the lines were non-existent today.

“Hello. How can I help you?” A young man smiled at me from behind the counter.

“Hi. I’d like to make a deposit please.”

I handed over my check and the slip.

“One moment please.” He smiled and started typing on his computer. I looked around the bank’s lobby; there was hardly anyone here. A woman and her young son stood at one of the counters, a few meters away from where I had been standing, the woman writing frantically on some piece of paper while trying to keep her son by her side. An old man stood at the counter next to me, waiting for his helper to return from wherever they had gone. I heard the doors open and turned to look and my heart stopped. It wasn’t the fact that he was a man, or that he must’ve been close to 6 and a half feet, no. It was the semi-automatic machine gun he had aimed at the ceiling.

Oh shit.

“EVERYONE GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!”

His left hand fired off some bullets, causing some lights to shatter and glass to rain down on him, while his right hand pulled a handgun from the arsenal he had strapped to his chest and pointed it at us.

I knelt quickly, “ALL THE WAY!” He placed a gun to my head. Forcing me to lie on my stomach. Amid the noises of people crawling I heard a buzzing noise and a very loud click, almost as if… I turned my head to look at the bank doors. The little lights above them that had been a bright emerald green were turning red one by one, each with a little buzz and a click.

Damn it. I saw his shoes move away from me, squeaking on the tile floor. He moved down the line, ordering everyone to the ground before going after the tellers who he ordered around to the front of the lobby with the rest of us. I looked around there must have been 8 of us. 5 tellers and three customers, including me.

“Are you okay?” I asked the old man who was lying on my right, simultaneously pulling my phone from my pocket. Typing as fast as I could I typed out:

1 HT, hs outside hlp,

He must’ve seen my phone because the next thing I knew a shoe landed squarely on the screen, smashing it, and my hands into the ground. I grimaced in pain as his weight crushed my hands. I dropped the phone and tried to remove my hands from under the shoe. I avoided looking at him, but I could tell he was glaring at me from behind the mask. Once the pressure lifted from my hands I clutched them closer to me, rubbing them as if I could rub the pain away. All I could do was hope that the text got through as I stared at the shattered screen of my phone, lying dark and dead on the floor

Shit.

“Slide all your electronics towards me.” he instructed.

There were rasping noises as the cases and backs of said electronics were pushed out towards him. One by one he went around, stamping on each one until he was surrounded by crackled glass and useless electronics.

I could hear him moving farther away, behind the teller stations. I looked up, seeing if we could make a run for it. He was shoving cash from the tills into a duffel bag and mumbling under his breath, as though talking himself into or out of something. He still had his semi-automatic in the air. He hadn’t killed anyone yet, but I had the sneaking suspicion that he would if we tested him. He moved back around to the main part of the lobby, waving the semi-automatic at us.

“Okay UP! EVERYBODY GET UP.”

We all stood up cautiously,but quickly, slightly bent over at the waist, as if bending over made us slightly less visible as none of us wanted to get shot by the crazy madman waving a semi-automatic around. I helped the elderly gentlemen next to me to his feet; his breathing was labored and he had some difficulty catching his breath. The gunman herded us towards a room just off the main lobby. A room that was inhabited by what looked like the rest of the bank staff and any other persons who had been in the building.

“SIT DOWN! NO TALKING!”

Most of us sat on the floor, but I offered an available seat to the elderly man, “Thank you.” He rasped out. I offered him a small smile before taking a spot on the floor next to him

I raised my head, trying to get a clearer look at him. I was met with the barrel of a gun.

“Keep. Your. Head. Down.”

I lowered my head, straining my ears, listening for anything at all.

“Plea-“

“BE QUIET!”

The only sound besides the squeak of the man’s shoes was the sound of terrified breathing.

There were 6 other attempts to talk to him.Each was shot down immediately and loudly. What was he waiting for? He could have gotten away with the money.”

He didn’t talk to us, or utter any other commands. He simply paced the room, hands on his vest having a mumbled discussion with himself

My eyes flitted around the room as the gunman paced back and forth in the hallway outside. There was a CCTV camera in the corner, a red light blinking away at us. Then a voice over a loud speaker shattered the silence the man had tried so hard to keep.

“This is the Strategic Response Unit. Can we please talk to whoever is in charge?” I recognized the voice and a feeling of relief swept over me. Sergeant Parker would get us out.

The old man’s breathing was getting worse.

“What’s your name?” I whispered

“John Raynolds.” He replied

“I know the people handling this. Don’t worry.”

“Thank you dear.”

“Can you try to take bigger breaths?”I whispered, worried about the possibility of him having a heart attack.

I glanced up at the man, his brown hair contrasting with his black clothing. Something was off. I couldn’t place my finger on it, but after listening to my brother talk about all the cases he had worked on, I had some knowledge about hostage situations.

“You can talk to me.” The man replied, his voice was shaky and choppy.

“Well we want to do everything we can to take sure everyone can leave safely.”

“I agree,”

I frowned at that. What the hell was up with this guy

“Can you tell us what you want? What we can do to help everyone get out of here.”

“I want… A car to… the airport. You have… one hour.”

“Okay, but my bosses won’t give me anything, unless you give me some hostages.”

“No.”

“You have 12 in there why don’t you whittle it down to four, just give us five?”

“Fine.”

My eyebrows shot up at that. No HT agrees to terms that quickly. Something was wrong.

“You five… and the old man. Leave. NOW!”

They stood there for a second, before practically sprinting out of the door. One woman helped John out the door. A minute later I heard an ambulance speed away. Everything about this was wrong; the hairs on the back of my neck started to tingle, as if someone was watching me. I turned my head, staring at the security camera blinking away at us.

“You now have…. 30 minutes to get me the car….and ….if you make one wrong move…”

He grabbed me by the arm, pulling me up and putting his handgun to my temple “She dies.”

The gun shook against my temple.

“Can you put down the gun please? You will get your car.”

“Is.. Is this because this girl… is valuable?”

His speech patterns were getting weirder.

“She’s just as valuable as any other life.”

“You are… wrong… Sergeant Parker.”

“How am I wrong Michael?”

“How do you know my name?” There were no pauses or inconsistencies this time, and he sounded terrified. I felt the guy, Michael, stiffen, his hand shaking even more. He whispered to himself, “They know my name. They know my name! This is too far.”

I knew better than to say something, Parker ws trying to establish a relationship and interrupting might set him off.

“This is… Rian Azamoz… Azarov… Rian Azarov.”

HOW THE FUCK DID THIS GUY KNOW MY NAME?

“Don’t… play games… you can’t win Parker”

“We just want everyone out safely Michael, even you.”

“… Then get me a car… Your deadline is closing. Only 15 minutes left.”

Michael let go of me, almost pushing me down and away from him. I sat back down on the floor, the remaining 6 hostages who were all trying not to stare at me, but completely failing.

Sergeant Parker tried to get Michael to talk again, but Michael never responded. It seemed as though he was listening to something else entirely. Finally he paused and mumbled to himself, as if having a moral dilemma, before walking towards me.

“Come with me… please.” He whispered the last part in my ear after I had stood up.

We shuffled out to the front of the bank, the gun still raised.

We were met by 4 SRU bulletproof shields, hiding the officers who currently had their weapons pointed at us.

Greg Parker stepped out from behind the shield, “put the gun down Michael.”

“I can’t”

“What is holding that gun to her head going to do?”

“Keep you back”

Greg placed his hand to his ear, pressing th earpiece I knew was there more snugly into his ear.

You’re clear Michael. He’s not listening or watching anymore.

“No, you don’t understand.”

“We do. we’ve blocked all cell signals into and out of this building.”

Tentatively Michael released me, stepping away towards Greg, only to met my a man in bombsuit. I barely registered the hulking green suit guiding Michael to a corner of the building

With no one holding me anymore my legs kind of crumpled and I fell to the floor. In an instant, Jules Callaghan had a blanket wrapped around me.

I looked up at my best friend.

“Jules. What the hell just happened?”

JULES’ POV

“Hot Call Team One.” Winnie called over the intercom.

Ed slammed his pen down “Thank god! I hate paperwork.”

We all just rolled our eyes at him, before making our way to the locker rooms to grab our supplies., I was packing the small explosives and extra ammo when my cell phone beeped. I filed the beep in the back of my mind, promising myself that I would check it once we were loaded and on our way.

4 minutes later we were loading everything into the SUV’s. Sam and I in one, Boss, Spike in another, and Leah and Ed in the third. With Sam driving I pulled my cell phone out, staring at the text from my best friend

Rian: 1 HT, hs outside hlp.

What?

I put it away, shaking my head. My best friend was one weird lady

Soon we were speeding away to a TD bank branch, listening as Sgt. Greg Parker, our boss read out the specs of the case.

“So there was a call of a bank robbery, an unknown number of hostages…”

“Shit.” I said too loudly.

“What’s wrong Jules?” I turned to look at Sam, who was driving.

“I got a text from Rian. It said 1 HT, outside help. She was going to deposit her paycheck today.”

“Damn it. Is Rian in there?” Ed asked over the headsets as the SUV he was driving cut in front of the one Sam and I were in.

“I have no idea.” I said, trying to contain my worry. Instantly the tension over the comms escalated immensely. Rian was part of the SRU family. If anything happened to her...

“Spike can you try to get into the CCTV’s?” Parker’s voice pulled me back into reality.

“Yeah Boss.”

“Okay, Jules you’re my second, Spike; CCTV’s , Ed, Sam and Leah you’re with me. There’s no way we can get sniper’s around the bank.”

I spoke up, “what did the caller say about the HT?”

“Not much,” Parker responded, “she should be still on the scene so-”

“-I’ll talk to her,” I cut in, interrupting. “What was her name?”

“Holly Manning.”

The ride to the bank branch was pretty short and soon we were setting up the command center from the truck.

Over the comms I could hear Parker talking to the first responders outside, getting every bit of information they had, but I was interviewing the one bank personnel who had made it out of the bank.

Holly Manning was a gorgeous willowy blonde banker, who’s 4 inch heels brought her almost to 6 feet high. She seemed genuinely worried for everyone else in the bank. She kept twisting her hands and jewelry anxiously as she attempted to answer my questions.

“Did you see who had the gun?”

“I think it was a man, but I saw him through I window, I was in the printing room, and I heard the gunshots and snuck out the back door. But the weird thing was. I heard the door lock, they make this annoying buzzing sound, but it was so fast. I just thought it was off. But there’s no way that you can lock the doors that fast. Their designed that way. You need the password and the manager’s computer and he hadn’t been into the manager’s office yet.”

“Do you know how many people were inside the bank today?”

“Total? Maybe 10? 13? I’m not sure, I’m sorry.”

“Did you see what kind of gun he was carrying?”

“It looked slightly like those machine guns the bad guys use in movies. Big, black, with the shoulder strap.”

“Okay, thanks. I’d appreciate your help identifying your coworkers.”

“Absolutely, I’ll help any way I can.”

I showed her to the truck and she stepped inside.

“This is Constable Scarlatti.” I said, pointing at Spike, who was typing furiously on the laptop trying to hack into the CCTV system. “Once we have the CCTV feed we will need you to identify everyone you can.”

“Absolutely, thank you constable.” She said as I walked away.

“Boss?”

“Go Jules.”

“So I got an employee, Holly Manning who made it out. Says she thinks there was just one but he managed to lock the doors which requires a certain password and access to the manager’s computer. Given her timeline, there’s no way the HT could’ve done all that. He must have outside help, a hacker? Someone at the bank? Maybe that’s what Rian meant.”

“We don’t even know if Rian is in there.”

“Not yet. Sorry boss. I just have this feeling, and it’s not a good one.”

“Never apologize for you gut feeling Jules, unless its without a doubt wrong.”

“Yes Boss.”

I interviewed more first responders, while half listening to Ed, Sam, and Leah talk about entry points.

“Boss was right we can’t use snipers,” Ed was saying, “The bank has that huge awning, and it blocks all access from anywhere besides another 1st story. We’ll have to be on the ground. There’s three exits on the blueprints, the main one, the back one near the loading dock, and the fire exit which is right here.”

“Boss?” Spike said over the comm. “I got eyes and ears. I reversed the phone lines.” My breath caught in my throat as I waited for the following words, “and I have eyes on Rian.”

“Go ahead Spike” All of us were listening to him as he narrated what he was seeing. I attempted to weave through all the personnel standing outside and make it back to the truck as I listened.

“Okay we have 12 hostages, Holly here says that eight of them are employees, including the manager and assistant manager and four of them are customers, including Rian.”

“Dammit.” Ed cursed through his comm.

“But guys that’s not the only thing. Hacking this should’ve taken at least half an hour, but I did it in 15 minutes.”

“No need to brag Sp-”

“I’m not bragging” Spike said, interrupting Ed, “Someone hacked them first, and I just followed them in.”

“Are they still watching? My money’s on yes because I’m getting some kind of interference with the phones and video.”

“But just one HT?” Sarge asked.

“Just one on the premises.”

“Okay, so what exactly did Rian’s text say Jules.”

“Umm..” I pulled it up again, stopping under a tent, farther away from the noisiness that the scene was becoming.. “1 HT, and then something that looks like has outside help.”

“GOT IT!” Spike exclaimed. “Iwas right, there’s someone else watching this besides us, they’re uploading the video to a public website.”

“Spik-”

“I’m on it Boss, trying to track the website. I also uploaded footage to Winnie for identification”

“Okay team, I’m going in.”

I blocked Sarge out as he began negotiations.

A few seconds later the entire team was on edge. His speech sounded forced, much more forced than it should be. He was behaving so unlike any HT we’d ever dealt with before.

“Jules?”

“Yeah Sarge?”

“Are you hearing this guys?”

“The HT?”

“Yeah Jules.

“Yeah, his speech pattern is off,”

“I may have the answer to why, but I want someone to double check me,”

“What is it Spike?”

“ Something weird.”

“I got this, Sarge.” I said closing the distance between me and the truck in a matter of seconds.

“Spike?” I asked, entering the bright interior of the truck.

He gestured over his shoulder, eyes never leaving the computer as he continued to work his magic. I stood behind him, staring at the monitor.

“Okay, look at his ear.”

“His what?”

“His ear.”

“Spike it’s too small for me to say anything besides that it looks like an ear.”

“Hold on I’ll magnify it.”

A few keystrokes later and the two of us were staring at a frozen image of the gunman’s ear as Parker began negotiations

“Boss?”

“Yeah?”

“Spike was right.”

“So what does that mean?..”

“He’s being fed what to say, that’s why his speech patterns are off.” Spike said, still typing viciously on the laptop

“How do you know Spike?”

Spike was quiet for a few moments, and in the silence another voice popped up.

“Sergeant Parker?” Winnie asked over the headsets.

“Hey Winnie, did you get an identification?”

“Yes I sent it to your pads, but here’s the short version. His name is Michael Gambon and he is a 45 year old construction worker. At 26 he dropped out of the police academy to take care of his mother who died a few year later from brain cancer.”

“Anything that points to why he’s doing this?”

“Nothing, he’s not a rich man, but he’s not in debt, he has a good job and a family.”

Spike was still typing vigorously, but he stopped abruptly and leaned back in the chair.

“That interference I was getting? It’s a signal, and Jules and I think we’re see one of those flesh-colored ear-comms.”

“There’s something else though.” Parker mused

“Do you think he’s under duress?”

“We’ll look at the surveillance and try to find something Boss” Spike answered.

Both of us trained our eyes on the HT, but it wasn’t until he drew a gun from the small armory he was carrying on his vest when I realized something.

“Spike, are you seeing his vest?”

“You mean the arsenal? Yeah.”

“No the arsenal is on top of it. Look at the distance rest of it is away from his body. That’s at least three of four inches.

“What are you thinking?”

“Maybe he’s hiding some--”

We saw it at the same time. The HT had turned around, giving us the first good look at his left side. He had lifted his arm to rub his head, and thats when we saw it. It was a small wire and a blinking light.

“No.” I whispered as Spike face twisted into a frown.

“Boss?” Spike called over the comms, “Jules and I think he’s strapped to a bomb.”

“Shit. Winnie? Call the bomb squad.” Ed ordered

“Yes Sir” she responded quickly.

“Okay. Well, we have to assume he’s being watched.”

“We KNOW he’s being watched.” Spike clarified.

“Can you tell us what you want? What we can do to help everyone get out of here.” Parker said to the HT.

“Spike. Is there any way we can alter the video feed, make whoever’s watching look at something else?”

“I can work on that. Give me a minute. I’m going to try to block the signal.”

Over the comms I heard Sergeant Parker negotiate for some of the hostages.

“I’m almost there…” Spike muttered.

“He’s escalating!” Ed said over the mic.

I glanced down at the screen to see the HT holding a shaking gun at my best friend’s head.

“Dammit!” Sam said over the comms. “No solution. Ed?”

“I don’t have one either.”

“Spike! We need that signal jammed.”

“I’m working as fast as I can.”

We listened as the Sarge tried to get the HT to lower the gun he was currently holding to Rian’s head

“Can you put down the gun please? You will get your car.”

“Is.. Is this because this girl… is valuable?”

The watcher was interested in Rian?

“She’s just as valuable as any other life.” Parker responded

“You are… wrong… Sergeant Parker.”

“How am I wrong Michael?”

“This is… Rian Azamoz… Azarov… Rian Azarov.”

“Guys, how does he know her name?” I asked

“No idea,” Spike’s voice was worried

We heard a truck pull up outside and someone stepping inside.

“Team 1 I presume?” a voice asked.

“Yeah, Jules Callaghan bomb squad?” I asked, turning around and shaking the man’s proffered hand.

“Yeah David Franks. What do we have?”

I ushered him over to the monitor, pointing out what we knew, or what we thought we knew as Parker continued negotiations.

“Don’t… play games… you can’t win Parker” the HT responded

“We just want everyone out safely Michael, even you.”

“… Then get me a car… Your deadline is closing. Only 15 minutes left.”

He and Rian started moving towards the front of the bank.

“Franks, do you have a signal jammer?” Spike asked, still typing

“Yeah, one of my guys is already working it.”

“Okay, tell him to turn it up as high as he can.”

“He’s on the move.” I said, the movement catching my eye on the CCTV. I watched as they walked to the front of the bank.

“I have a man suiting up, he’ll be ready when you need him,” Franks said, stepping outside

“Solution?”

“Not yet.” Ed said.

“I have a solution.” Sam responded

“Wait for my signal. Spike?”

“Almost there…. GOT IT! Okay, watcher’s eyes and ears are down, and all cell phones and signals have been blocked.”

I saw the bombsquad carefully defusing Michael’s vest, but I was sprinting to get to Rian.

She was in a heap on the ground, her hands shaking and her eyes were wide as she looked up at me. I wrapped a blanket around her and hugged her.

“Jules.” Her voice was shaking. “What the hell just happened?”


	2. Kristopher

RIAN'S POV

“You’re okay. You’re okay, you’re perfectly fine. Everything’s okay.” Jules was hugging me, murmuring calming words into my ear as we sat there on the floor of the bank lobby. I felt… fine. I did a mental check on myself; no wounds, injuries or other outstanding problems. I must’ve been in shock because I couldn’t get my body to do anything. Eventually Jules pulled away, holding my face and looking at me intently.

“Rian?”

I wanted to respond but I couldn’t hear her, I couldn’t get enough air. My lings couldn’t expand enough to get me the oxygen my brain craved.

“Rian?” someone was calling my name, but I was already far away, remembering things I’d rather forget as I fainted on the floor of the bank.

I paced in front of the whiteboard surveying the faces of my class, trying to find the guilty parties who didn’t do the reading last night. "So, who can tell me the difference between the Kings of Rome and the Roman Emperors? Hmmm.” My gaze landed on a blonde in the second row who was avoiding looking at me, “Mike? Why don’t you tell us?"

"Well-"

"Excuse me," a voice said from the doorway, "Miss Rian Azarov?" Two policemen stood in the doorway watching me with wary eyes.

"Yes?"

"We need you to come with us."

"I'm sorry but I don't have a sub for my-"

"Actually you do Rian." I looked over the policemen's shoulder to see the Principal, Chandler Murray, and one of the building subs.

"Um, okay. Boys. I expect the chapter to be fully read by tomorrow's class." I shot them a look as I walked over to my desk.

"Yes Miss. A." They chorused

I grabbed my briefcase and folders from my desk, walking behind the two policemen. Before we left school grounds the Principal, gave me a comforting pat on the arm. I looked at him but before I could ask him what was wrong, he was already walking away.

One of the officers opened the back door for me

“We’re sorry about the back miss.”

“It’s no problem Officer,” I said, sliding into the back. I stared out the window as we pulled out of the school’s parking lot and started down the 4 mile driveway. We were almost to the highway when I gave in; I couldn’t stand not knowing anymore.

"Officer?"

"Ma'am?"

"Can you please tell me what's going on?"

"We have some bad news Miss. Your brother..."

"What happened? I didn't know he was on duty? Did he get shot? Is he okay."

"Ma'am, I'm very sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but your brother was a victim of a hit and run today."

I sank back into the seat, Kris? Hit and Run?

“Is this a practical joke? ‘Cause it’s not funny.”

“It’s no joke ma’am. Today at 1:35 there was a call to the local station about a hit and run incident. Your brother’s car had been hit by someone running a red light. There was no sign of the other car, but we have a few witnesses, and we are going through traffic cameras now.”

“So you’ll find him?” I felt numb, all I wanted to do was kill the sonofabitch who had hurt my older brother.

“He, or she, injured a cop,” the officer replied, his eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror. “We’ll find them.”

When we reached the highway the officer turned on the lights and sirens, allowing us to speed down the highway. I watched the cars pull over and the buildings pass until we pulled up to the hospital. I was out of the car before it came to a complete stop. I ran straight to the desk, demanding to see my brother. The nurse there, told me that he had just gone in to surgery, but that I could wait on the third floor.

“The officers can escort you there.” she said, concluding our discussion despite the amount of questions I had; she probably wouldn’t have been able to answer them anyways. I climbed the steps to the third floor, making turn after turn until I came to the waiting room. The officers remained outside as I entered the blank, white room. The room wasn’t empty but it wasn’t full either. His team-mates were spread out throughout the room, and some other SRU personnel was huddled in the corner. I stood there, as if it was the first day of high school and I didn’t know where to sit in the cafeteria.

Jules, my best friend was the first one to notice me. Sam moved his arm from around her shoulder and she stood up, making her way over to me and engulfing me in one of her famous hugs. By that time the other team members had realized I was there and all hugged me. Spike’s hug was the best, but even I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to the man I was in love with. All my energy was going to thoughts of Kris. Somehow I ended up sitting between Spike and Ed, with Spike's arm around me. Sam and Jules were sitting across from me and Sergeant Parker was pacing the floor between the rows of seats. Ed and Sam would occasionally assure me that nothing bad was going to happen, Sarge didn't say a word, Spike just kept his arm around me, and Jules kept checking her watch. I don’t know when, but I must’ve fallen asleep because the next thing I know Spike is gently shaking me awake. He looked down at me and motioned to where a man had emerged from the double doors leading into the Or.

“The doctor’s here.” He whispered, jerking his head in the direction of the man. In an instant I was up and walking to the doctor who had emerged.

"Are you Kris' sister?"

"Yes, That's me."

"Why don't we sit down."

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"I have some very bad news I'm afraid. When Kris was hit he sustained extensive internal injuries. We tried to do all we could but I'm afraid we couldn't fix everything in time. I'm very sorry for your loss."

I felt numb, my brother was dead, by a stupid hit and run. I think my knees gave out because the next thing I knew I was in someone's arms and they were guiding me to a chair. I looked up, watching Greg and the doctor talk in low voices. Jules was crying silently, and Sam was tearing up, his hands clenched in fists. Ed was across the room, sitting with his head in his hands, Leah was sitting next to Jules, staring off into space. Spike was sitting next to me, his arm wrapped around my waist, holding me. I felt nothing, nothing at all. Then the tears started to come. I turned to Spike, burying my head in his shoulder as I sobbed. My brother, a hard core strategic response unit member was taken out not during his shift, but by a stupid driver, who was too much of a coward to step forward and take responsibility. Kris was an organ donor. Kris was a big brother. Kris had a black coffin. Kris received an award posthumous. Kris left me by myself. The funeral was fairly small, mostly just SRU as much of our family was dead, and my oldest brother couldn’t be reached as he was in the middle of an operation in Iraq or something. I had been so furious when the army said they probably wouldn’t be able to reach him in time. But now I couldn’t even feel anger; I just felt...nothing. I stood there, just staring as Kris was lowered into the ground. I was passed around, hugs and condolences, words and promises. Soon it was just me, standing at my brother's grave, staring down at the flowers that now covered the coffin. I gently placed my rose on the top of the pile and turned to leave. My breath caught as I saw that someone had waited for me: Michelangelo Scarlatti stood a little ways from Kris' grave, waiting for me to finish.

"Thanks." I said, smiling through my tears, and kissing him on the cheek.

He blushed, smiling back at me and offered his arm, leading me back to the car.

"Rian? Rian?! RIAN!" My eyes felt so heavy but I tried to open them anyway. I was lying in an ambulance, Team 1 was surrounding me, Spike was closest, leaning over me and Jules was right next to him.

"Man, I'm so glad you're okay." Spike breathed, still looming over me

"Come on Spike, let her breathe." Ed Lane called, causing Spike to back away as if I had burned him.

"Thanks Spike," I smiled weakly at him before I tried to sit up.

“Nuh, uh. Not yet” Jules said. I felt someone grab my hand and I saw Sergeant Parker standing next to me.

“Wait… what happened?” I asked, a little worried that I had been injured or something.

“You fainted,” Paker replied, grinning as though he found it all very funny.

“I...fainted?”

“Yup.” Jules confirmed, smiling slightly at that.

“Bullshit. I did not.”

Ed spoke up this time, “Sorry Ri, you totally fainted.”

I blushed, ashamed that I had fainted in front of everyone. I tried to sit up again and this time Jules didn’t hold me back. I blinked steadily before swinging my legs out over the side of the gurney.

“Did someone carry me here?”

“Spike did.” Jules answered, ruffling his hair, “he was quite worried about you.”

“We were all worried about you.” A familiar voice spoke up. I turned to see Ella, a friend from college, smiling at me from her spot in the ambulance itself.

“Ella! I didn’t know you were the EMT here.”

“I didn’t know YOU were here, much less had fainted before your boyfriend brought you over.”

“He’s not my-”

“We aren’t--”

Spike and I started at the same time.

“Uh huh, sure. Well I still want to check you out now that you’re awake.”

As Ella gave me a quick check up to make sure I was more than okay, Team one started to disperse; they had to go back to headquarters.

“Sergeant?” Ella called to Parker,

“Yes?”

“Can you spare one of your men? I want someone to go home and watch Rian for any late effects like shock, PTSD, a concussion even.”

“Sure, Spike?”

“Yeah boss?”

“After you’re done I want you to go home with Rian and watch her okay?”

“I don’t get a say in this?”

“No.” All three of them responded at the same time.

“Okay okay… you’re all like mothers… smotheri-”

“This is for your health okay?” Ella said, staring me down.

“Okay.” I grumbled, appropriately chastised.

I gave my statement to Ed and Greg as Spike changed his clothes and finished whatever he had to do.

Together we started to walk to where my car was parked.

“How are you feeling?” He asked

“Better. Okay I guess.”

“I’ll drive.” He announced with a tone that brokered no argument. I handed over the keys and hopped into the passenger side. We drove in relative silence, I don’t think either of us knew what to say.

Spike pulled my car into the driveway of the small house I lived in. He locked the car and I unlocked the house. Stepping into my own private space I let out a deep breath that I didn’t know I had been holding in.

“Do you need clothes?”

“Nah I’m good” he replied, holding up what must’ve been his go-bag.

“The guest room is empty, you’re welcome to sleep in there.”

“Thanks Rian.”

“I’m tired, so I’m going to go straight to bed, you’re more than welcome to help yourself to food, or watch TV, or…”

“I’m good.”

“Goodnight Spike,” I turned to walk into my room.

“Rian?” I stopped, turning around again, “I’m really really glad you’re okay.”

I smiled at him, “I’m glad you’re okay too.”

My alarm woke me up the next morning, 5:00. Ugh. I hit the snooze button and instantly went back to sleep. It was a Sunday, I could get up whenever the hell I wanted. That time it turns out is 10:17. I stumbled into the shower, letting the scalding hot water wake me up, my entire body was bright red by the time I got out. I grabbed my favorite jeans and pulled them on with one of Kris' old sweatshirts. I combed through my wet hair quickly and then dug around my room for my fuzzy socks, sliding them on. I made my way into the kitchen, finding a note from Spike taped to the fridge and a pot of coffee ready for me. I read it as I drank my first cup of the morning;

Rian,

I didn’t want to wake you this morning, but I had to leave. My mom called and needed some help. Sorry I left without saying goodbye. Text me.

-S

I smiled at his thoughtfulness before turning on the radio to drown out my own thoughts. I whipped out my phone to text Spike.

Thanks for watching over me. See you later!

I stood there as the music echoed through my empty house. My eyes roamed the kitchen, looking for something to eat. Instead, I pulled flour, butter, sugar, chocolate chips, nutmeg, vanilla, salt, eggs and a few other ingredients from the pantry, deciding to bake cookies for my class. I set about my new task with interest, eating bits of the cookie dough, or hot cookies out of the oven every once and a while. It was close to two when my doorbell rang, waking me up from my cooking. I surveyed the ridiculous amount of cookies I had before going to the front door.

"He- Spike." I said as I opened the door to reveal the tall SRU officer

"Binge-baking again?" he asking, laughing a little.

"Yeah, How did you...?" he lifted a finger and brushed some flour off my cheek

"Right. Come on in. Did you get me flowers?" I asked in surprise, noticing the bouquet in his hands.

"I could lie and say these were from me, but they aren't. They were here on your doorstep when I got here."

"Huh. Wonder who they're from..."

"I just came by to make sure you were doing okay."

"Yeah, I'm... I'm okay." I realized, "Uh, I was actually going to visit Kris' grave." I decided on the spot. "Do you, um, do you want to come?"

Spike smiled at me, "I'd love to."

Spike drove us to the cemetary, and our conversation drifted towards his mother more than anything else.

The cemetery was silent as Spike and I walked between the headstones. The few trees gave little shade under the cool autumn sun. Soon we were standing there, in front of the dark granite headstone. Spike stopped a few feet from the headstone, letting me talk with my brother on my own.

"Hey Kris. It's been about 9 months since I've been here. Yesterday I was involved in a hot call. It was weird. I was fine, Team One handled it very nicely. I miss you, more than I can say in words. You would've kicked my ass for getting myself involved. I haven’t seen or heard from Karl in a while, he’s still overseas. He promised he would come back for christmas but I don’t think he will.”

I told him about the annoying students I had to put up with. How Team One has taken care of me, how Jules' is pregnant, and I whispered about my feelings for a certain member of Team One. In my mind, Kris was totally up for me and Spike going steady. I was done, just kneeling in front of his headstone when footsteps approached me. I looked up to see Spike offering me a hand. I took it and he pulled me to my feet.

"Come on Rian, want to get a drink?"

We settled on Team One's favorite bar, near the headquarters. We sat at the bar, just talking. I had a beer, Spike just had water. It was a little after 9 when we finally paid the bill and Spike started to drive me home. I watched as the streetlights flashed overhead illuminating his face for a second at a time. His dark brown eyes were fixed on the road, but I saw the corner of his mouth twitch up in a smile before asking

"See something you like Rian?"

"Nope!" I replied popping the p, although I was lying through my teeth. It was 10 by the time Spike pulled up to my house.

"Thanks for everything Spike." I leaned over and kissed him quickly on the cheek before I bolted from the car. He was still outside when I locked my front door behind me. I giggled to myself, promising to buy Team One breakfast when they went on shift tomorrow morning. I set my purse down on the counter next to my flowers. I turned to head into my bedroom when I noticed one of those business card's sticking out from the bouquet. I plucked it out and read the engraved writing.

It read East 51st Flowers, a shop that was near the school I worked at. I flipped it over. There in messy writing someone had scribbled 'sorry'.

JULES' POV

“Rian?” I watched my best friend carefully, she was making me nervous. Not responding to anything.

“RIAN?” this time I could hear her trying to breath, as if she couldn’t get enough air before… She fell backwards, and I almost didn’t catch her in time.

“Rian? Rian?!!” No response. “HELP HELP!” I called not wanting to move her if something bad had happened. With the voices in my ear asking me what was going on I remembered the comms.

“Someone get an EMT here… NOW” I yelled into the comm. I gently laid her head on the floor of the lobby, checking for a pulse as I heard running feet and voices approach us.

“Jules! What happened?!” Spike asked, looking distraught.

“I don’t know? Where’s the EMT?”

“Right here!” A voice said, pushing through us to get to Rian. The woman listened to her heart and lungs for a bit before sitting back on her heels. “She’s fine, she just fainted, nothing to worry about. But, can someone carry her to the ambulance, I want to make sure.”

With one smooth motion Spike lifted her in his arms, bridal style, and set of after the EMT. The rest of us followed, wanting to make sure she was alright. The EMT hooked her up to a machine for a few minutes, before unhooking her.

“She’s absolutely fine, we just need to wait for her to wake up.” She told us, trying to reassure us.

Rian wasn’t like us, she was tough, but in a different way. We were all worried about her.

I grabbed her hand, running my fingers along her wrist, waiting for her to wake up.

We all stood there until we saw he twitch, and then open her eyes very slowly.

“Rian? Rian!? Rian!?!?” I called, trying to get her attention, to get her eyes to open wider.

“Man, I’m so glad you’re okay.” Spike said, still staring at her. I rolled my eyes. Those two just needed to have sex; it would get rid of all the sexual tension there.

“Come on Spike, let her breathe.” Ed said, smirking slightly as Spike backed up so fast he almost fell over backwards.

“Thanks Spike” Rian said grimacing before she tried to sit up.

I gently pushed her back down,

“Nuh, uh. Not Yet.” I scolded, looking around for the EMT

“Wait what happened?” She asked sounding confused.

“You fainted.” Sarge replied, grinning slightly.

“I fainted?” She asked again, as though she couldn’t believe it.

“Yup” I said, confirming what Sarge had told her.

“Bullshit. I did not.” She said, shaking her head.

“Sorry Ri, you totally fainted.” Ed said, laughing slightly.

She blushed bright red, looking incredibly embarrassed before she tried to sit up again.

“Did someone carry me here?”

“Spike did.” I replied, reaching over to ruffle his hair, before he swatted my hand away, blushing. “He was quite worried about you.”

“We were all worried about you.” The EMT said, standing up from where she had been sitting in the ambulance.

“Ella! I didn’t know you were the EMT here.”

“I didn’t know YOU were here, much less had fainted before your boyfriend brought you over,” the EMT, Ella, replied.

“He’s not my-”

“We aren’t-”

Spike and Rian started at the same time, trying not to look at eachother.

“Uh, huh. Sure. Well I still want to check you out now that you’re awake.”

I said my goodbyes and told Rian to call me tomorrow, as we had to get back to HQ to write up the report.

As I wanted back to the truck I could hear the EMT talking to Sarge, asking someone to stay with Rian in case something else was wrong.

I entered the truck, packing up the materials and leaving the bombsquad headquarters. Sam was waiting for me at the car, arms crossed, looking something akin to a warrior god with his uniform and messy blonde hair. I gave hima smile as we readied everyone else’s car.

Minus Spike, the rest of us headed back to HQ, to write up final reports.

As I typed, the weirder the situation appeared to be. I opened the statement Michael had given to his arresting officers.

Early in the morning, around 4 in the morning, someone broke into my apartment, put a gun to my head and listed facts about me that no one else knew. The voice sounded like a man, and he threatened to kill me if I didn't do what he said. He gave me a picture of the girl, Rian Azarov and told me to make sure she was there. He gave me the earwig and told me that if he didn't do what he said, he would kill me. He made me put on the vest, and told me what to say.

"So what are you thinking Jules?" I saw Sam's face above my computer screen, his blue eyes boring into mine. I shot him a smile.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you have that look on your face that says you’re thinking something important.”

"I'm not sure yet, but whatever it is, I don't like it." Sam's hands found my shoulders and gave me a comforting squeeze.

Just then the phone rang.

“Winnie?” I said, picking it up.

“I have a call from the bomb unit. They say they have something they want to share.”

“Okay, we’ll take it in the conference room.”

Sam and I walked to the conference room, fetching Sarge, Leah, and Ed on the way and telling them about the call.

“Go ahead Winnie.” Sarge said, taking a seat at the table.

A man’s voice came through the speakers.

“Team One?”

“Speaking.” Sarge replied, “This is sergeant Greg Parker.”

“Hi sergeant, this is Liam McAvoy, from the bombsquad.”

“Hello. What can we do for you?”

“Well I was looking at the bomb your HT was rigged to and the detonation that would’ve been used was a radio signal. I narrowed down that wireless signal. It couldn't have been more than a quarter mile away from the bank."

"Winnie did you catch that?"

"Yeah Boss, searching for empty offices, or apartments, or hotels.”

" McAvoy, Is there anything else that can identify the signal that would’ve been used?"

“I don’t think so, but I will keep looking. Whoever it is, they're good."

"Boss. I may have something." Winnie's voice filtered in over the comms. "A young man paid for a hotel room in cash, for just a day, but he checked in and out within 12 hours."

"Where's the hotel?"

"It's just within, the quarter-mile zone."

"He's long gone by now, Let's send some uniforms over, see what we can get out of the manager and security cams." Sergeant Greg Parker replied.

"Sending the call now."

"Thanks Winnie."

"Okay Team. Let's pack it in."

The guys went to their locker room and Leah and I went to ours ours. Leah and I unloaded the bags and then changed into our street clothes. There was still something that was bothering me, but I tried to shake it from my mind. I pulled on my blue blouse and jeans and then Leah and I went to the boy's locker rooms to finish unloading the bags.

"Incoming!" Leah yelled before we walked in. I started unloading the guns and putting everything back into the weapons lockers.

I had just finished when Sam wrapped his arms around my waist

"Ready to go home?"

"Yeah, I just hope Rian's okay."

"She's probably asleep by now. Call her tomorrow."

"Yeah. I will." My eyes flickered over the room before landing on an empty locker. I could barely see the picture and text from here but I knew what it said. I smiled quickly before taking the hand Sam offered me and headed home. The empty locker bore the name of my best friend's brother Kristopher Azarov and three little words that changed all of our lives: Connect, Respect, Protect


	3. Jeni's

Chapter 3:

RIAN’S POV

Tell me you need me. You better believe me when I say that you are my weakness. You are my weakness and you get me ev-

“Ow!” I exclaimed as I slammed my hand down onto my alarm clock: 4:30. I shook my hand vigorously, as if the slight pain was like water; something I could easily shake off. I crawled out of bed and stumbled into the shower letting the warm water wake me up and chase the weariness from my muscles. An hour later my hair was dry, slightly curled, and frizz free. I quickly applied some eyeliner and mascara before grabbing a black skirt and blue blouse from my closet. Unfortunately for my paycheck and I, teachers at The Academy dressed like models. Women in skirts and heels, men in freshly starched dress shirts and slacks. The school uniform was pretty strict as well; slacks, dress shirts and blazers for the boys, except on the last two school days of every month which were casual days and the teachers dressed like teens and the teens dressed in clothes they wear at home. I groaned, quickly checking my calendar as I tugged on the outfit and counting down the days until I could wear jeans at work again; 18 days. I slid on my driving boots and tucked my black work shoes into my purse, grabbed my car keys, phone, and briefcase and ran out the door. I slid into my car, putting it in reverse and beginning to back up. I was halfway down the driveway when I had to stop, put the car in neutral and sprint to my front door to lock it. Finally I was in the car, driving to Team One’s favorite bakery. Last time I checked, I definitely owed them some breakfast. I checked my watch, they would be just getting on shift now.

I pulled my iPhone from my purse at a red light

“Call Winnie.”

“Calling Winnie, Mobile,” Syrie responded in her robotic voice.

“Hey my favorite teacher!” Winnie answered after letting the phone ring a few times

“Hey. I have a favor to ask. Are you at work?”

“Yup. Just walked in.”

“I’m going to 51st Street to get breakfast. What do you want?”

“51st! YUM! Um, just me or everyone?”

“I have Jules, Spike, and Sam down. Do you know what Sarge, Leah, Ed and you want?”

“Sorry, I can’t remember, I can ask Sarge if you want. He hasn’t come in yet.”

“I’ll just guess. They’ll eat anything anyway”

“Well, I could go for one of their apple-cinnamon muffins. Leah likes bagels and you know how Ed loves those breakfast sandwiches.”

“Right,” I said, remembering the time he had scarfed down three. “Okay I’m on my way right now, see you in a few.”

20 minuted later I pulled up in front of 51st Street Bakery, a small mom-and-pop shop that had opened a few years back, and was home to Team One’s favorite breakfast foods. I pulled my wallet out of my bag and walked in, ringing the bell above the door as I did so. I found myself at the end of the 4 person line, rehearsing what I was getting so I didn’t miss anyone.

I heard the door open behind me, but that wasn’t what made me turn around to stare at the man who had entered behind me.

“Rian!”

I turned to see Sergeant Greg Parker smiling at me, standing in line behind me.

“Hey Sarge.”

“What are you doing here Rian?”

“I thought I could buy Team One breakfast today. As a thank you for...you knoe.”

“Rian, you don’t need to thank us.”

“Well I want to do it anyway.”

“Okay, I guess to make it easy on you, I’ll order for Ed and Myself.”

“Thanks Sarge. How has work been?”

We talked for a while, waiting to approach the counter.

“What can I get you?” asked the bottle-blonde college student behind the counter, popping her gum.

“A double double, two egg and sausage breakfast sandwich, one medium black, and” Greg looked at me, so I stepped up to the counter, rattling off the rest of the team’s order

“Cream no sugar, sugar no cream, chai tea, and black, bagel with Lox, apple cinnamon muffin, fruit scone, and pumpkin muffin.”

It took about ten minutes to get everything I ordered, probably because the cashier was too busy flirting with her co-worker to get our food ready. Sarge grabbed his and Ed’s order and took it with him. I followed his black SUV through the 30 minute ride back to headquarters, pulling into one of the visitor’s parking spots.

“Hand me the coffees” Greg asked, appearing outside my driver’s door and taking the tray of e scalding hot drinks up to the locker rooms.

Winnie greeted me at her station “YUM! You’re my new favorite Rian!”

She giggled, grabbing her Chai Tea and muffin.

“Everyone’s in the men’s locker room.”

“Even Jules and Leah?”

“You know how they get bored by themselves.” Winnie sent me a wink “I think Sarge is already in there.”

“Thanks Winnie!” I called as I headed towards the silver door with the MEN sign to its right.

I carefully stacked the bags of food in my left hand as I tried to open the door with my right. Finally I got in and was practically attacked.

“Thank you Rian!” Jules called as she grabbed her and Sam’s bag and ran off to where Sam was pulling on his uniform.

Sergeant Parker had already distributed coffee to Team One. Leah, swiped her and Ed’s food and handed Ed’s bag off to its owner. Soon I was left holding one bag, I peaked inside, bagel with lox: Spike.

“Spike’s over by the sinks.” Jules said, pointing to an area behind the lockers.

I made my way around and came face to chest with Spike Scarlatti, who was shirtless and slightly wet, as if he had recently showered. His eyes widened in surprise, and I could hear faint music coming from the white headphones that he pulled out of his ears. I took a step back, trying not to stare at his chest and held up the bag of food.

“Breakfast! Thanks Rian!” He said, giving me a hug and grabbed the coffee and bagel I offered him, attacking the latter like he hadn’t eaten in years.

“You’re welcome.” I replied, as he tried to thank me with his mouth full. I turned away, trying not to let myself stare openly at his extremely well muscled chest, but I’m pretty sure I saw him smirking as I turned away.

“What’s the occasion,” Ed asked, hugging me as I walked back into the main room.

“Just a thank you.” I checked my watch: 6:45. Shit. “I gotta get going, See you guys later.” They all gave me hugs, and promised to be safe on the job before I left.

I I waved over my shoulder as I shut the door behind me “Bye!”

“Bye Winnie!” I called as I walked past her desk. She waved, chewing her muffin.

“Bye Rian!” She called after me, when she had swallowed.

I was halfway across the parking lot when I heard someone calling my name. I turned around to see Spike running towards me, fully clothed this time.

“Is something wrong?” I looked up to see Team One watching us from the windows that looked out on the parking lot.

“No, Um, I just wanted to see if you wanted to come to Jenni’s with us tonight?”

“Jenni’s? Sure, I’d love to.”

“Cool. See you there.” He looked a little nervous, before making his way back inside. I looked back up to where Ed, Jules, and Sam were looking down at me. Waving, I stepped into my Subaru and sped to the Academy, a good 45 minutes away.

By the time I pulled into the teacher parking lot at the preppy boarding school, I had 30 minutes to get ready for class. I grabbed my bag and practically sprinted to class. Weaving through the hallways I finally arrived at my third floor classroom. I yanked my boots off my feet and crammed my toes into my heels. I mentally cringed and prepared my feet for the hurt that was coming. I had just put on my shoes, when one of my best friends stuck her head in my classroom.

“Hey girl! I guess we are twins today!” She said surveying my outfit. She was wearing practically the same thing but with a pink blouse of the same basic design.

“Hey Mia. How was the test yesterday?”

“Ugh, some of these boys drive me crazy. They keep making the same mistakes over and over again. I just want to staple the correct way to their faces.”

“Is Mia being violent again Rian?” Mia’s fiancé, Sam Hall asked me, stepping into my classroom behind her and wrapping an arm around his fiance’s waist.

“Hey Sam.”

“Have you guys heard about career day?”

Mia and I let out a groan.

“Career day? Already?”

“Is that pompous lawyer coming back? I always hate him.” Mia wrinkled her nose, which Sam promptly kissed before walking back to his classroom in the math wing. I sighed, chatting with Mia who was sitting on my desk as I placed my first class’ essays on their desks. We talked about the kids who annoyed Mia, and the plans for her and Sam’s wedding.

“Crap” Mia said as the first bell rang. “See you at lunch.”

“Goodluck with the Seniors!” I called after her as she ran to her classroom

I sat on my desk waiting for the Juniors to come in and fill their seats.

“Late Mr. Smith.” I scolded a black-haired student as he came flying in, shirt un-tucked a minute after the bell rang. After the students had a few minutes to review their essays, I launched into the new material: the Emperors of Rome.

I started with a question based on the reading they should have completed for today

“So, who can tell me the difference between the Kings of Rome and the emperors?”

“………………………..”

“Seriously guys.”

BRING! The bell rang, shattering the great silence.

“Okay, Chapter 13 has to be read by tomorrow’s class.” I warned them as they filed out.

The day passed quickly, lecture on the Roman Empire turned into lectures on the Middle East, which turned into singing in my car on the way back to my house.

“You are my weakness, cause you are my weakness. And you get me everytime” I sang with Kris Allen on the way home. The ride was long, music filled and boring. I finally pulled into my driveway at about 6:00 PM. Unlocking the door I kissed my fingers and pressed them to Kris’ forehead in the picture of Team One and I that hung in the entryway. I quickly changed into sweats and a tank top before turning on the TV and plopping down on the sofa in front of Criminal Minds re-runs. After the first episode I grabbed the tests my Senior Class had taken today, and started grading the multiple choice sections. A, B, A, D, E, C, A, B, D, D, D, D, E, A, C, C, C, C, C, C. I giggled, looking over the answers, the way I had fun with my tests was screwing with their minds; spelling out words, using the same answer over and over again. It was amazing how many boys changed their answers because they thought I would never put the same answer for the entire first page of the test. I giggled, grading the tests, B minus, A, D, C plus, B, B. I was on my 6th test when my phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hey where are you?” Jules asked loudly, over the commotion in the background.

“I’m at ho- Shit. I’m so sorry Jules.”

“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to Spike. He looks-“

Someone hung up the phone for her before she could finish her sentence. I sprinted upstairs, and slid on a pair of dark-wash skinny jeans, and a light purple off the shoulder blouse. I zipped up my black boots, grabbed my keys and wallet and drove to Jeni’s, going 20 miles over the speed limit on average. 25 minutes after Jules had called me, I was pulling into the parking lot. I stepped into the crowded bar and looked around, finally spotting Jules waving at me from a table in the back corner. I made my way to the bar, and ordered a beer. Grabbing my IPA I weaved through the crowds, half of which were watching the latest soccer game.

“Hey guys.” I slid into the empty seat next to Jules, avoiding eye contact with Spike, who I was sitting next to. “Sorry I’m late. I had to grade some tests.”

“No problem.” Jules smiled at me. Ed and Sophie were sitting across from me, Sam and Jules to my left, Parker and Spike in chairs across the top of the booth.

“Hey Sophie!” I exclaimed happy to see her, “How’s Clark and Izzy?”

“They’re great. Clark’s starting college soon.”

“Oh my gosh, he’s growing up.”

“It’ll be weird not having him in the house.” Ed replied, giving Sophie a kiss on her forehead. We chatted for a little while, talking about random things and drinking our various drinks. Finally Ed and Sophie started getting ready to leave.

“Speaking of children, we should be headed home.” Sophie smiled at us, and Ed did that guy-handshake thing before they left for home. Shortly afterwards, Jules, and Sam left, and I got the feeling this was planned, but I wasn’t that type of person. It was hard for me to be upfront with anyone.

“I still have papers left to grade tonight,” I sighed, grabbing my coat,

“Keep in touch okay Sarge?” I rested my hand of Parker’s shoulder for a second. “And stay safe you two.” I leaned down to give Spike a kiss on the cheek before I practically ran to my car. I was about to pull out when there was a knock on my window. I shrieked in surprise,

“Holy shit Spike. You scared the hell out of me.” I breathed, rolling down my window

“Sorry Rian. Iwaswonderingifyouwantedtogoouttommorrow.”

I frowned for a second, trying to piece together what he had just said. “Sorry could you say that again?”

“I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go out...with me...tomorrow?.” He sounded so unsure, not like the Spike I knew.

“On a date?” I was surprised,

“Yeah?”

“I’d love to.”

“Great, um, I’ll pick you up after shift tomorrow.”

“Great.” I smiled, He leaned in to kiss me on the cheek before he removed his hands from my window sill and I rolled up the window, smiling like a maniac the rest of the way home. I was going out with Michelangelo Scarlatti. It must be the universe’s way of making up for almost getting killed in the bank the other day.


	4. The Date

RIAN’S POV

I’m at a payphone trying to call home all of my change I spent on you. My eyes opened slowly, my arm was too tired to turn off my alarm so I let it play as I found myself eventually staring at the clock. I groaned, when I saw the time, forcing myself to get out of bed. I finally made it to the bathroom finding myself a little more awake when I remembered that I had a date tonight I was too tired to do anything special with my now wavy hair, as I had been up until 2 AM finishing the multiple choice, and then the essay portion of the tests. I was proud of the fact that I was the fastest grader in the school, but sometimes it absolutely sucked because it meant late nights and early mornings. I washed my face before applying some foundation, brushing my teeth after I had made an attempt to tame the waves in my hair. As I pinned my hair back from my face I realized that I really did need a haircut, and resolved to make an appointment today. I made my way into the kitchen, sliding slightly on the hardwood floor as I stepped on the hems of my pajama pants, and put on a pot of coffee. Making my way back into my closet I yanked on a pair of grey slacks which I paired with a dark purple shirt, silver necklace and dark grey mary-jane heels. I scarfed down a muffin and poured the now ready coffee into my insulated mug. I poured in some flavored creamer and stirred it with a long spoon. Glancing at the clock I swore and ran to the living room where I proceeded to shove the now graded tests into my briefcase. Lugging my briefcase behind me I grabbed my purse, keys and coffee, sprinting out the door in an effort not to be late. I quickly plugged my iPod into my car’s radio and blasted a weird combination of Pop and Rock as I made the commute to the Academy. I pulled into my parking spot a little after 7:40, yawning. I waved to another teacher who was making his way through the parking lot towards the school.

“Hi Kevin!” I called to the computer science and statistics teacher. He paused, eyes finding my face among the sea of expensive cars.

“H-Hello Rian.” He said nervously as I caught up to him. “H-H-How are you?”

“I’m great. How are you? I heard the computer lab got revamped?”

“I-If by r-re-revamped you m-m-mean thousand d-do-dollar computers, than y-y-yes.”

“Wow, it sounds like your class is going to be a lot of fun.”

“I-I hop-pe s-s-so” he responded quietly

“Well I’ll see you later,” I said, making a right where he made a left.

I climbed the wooden stairs, greeting other teachers on my way up to my classroom. It was only a few weeks into the start of the school year, but the air was perfect outside. I pushed the window next to my desk open, letting the autumn air filter into the classroom. I logged into the school computer that sat on my desk, opening safari and logging into PowerSchool. Entering grades takes a lot longer than you would think, and I finished right as the bell rang.

“Good morning Miss Azarov.” Martin Jones, greeted me as he came in and took his seat.

“Hello.” I said, smiling slightly

By the time the four minutes were up every seat in my class was full. The lecture lasted until the final three minutes of class.

“Okay, test the day after tomorrow, Chapters 3 and 4. Don’t be too rowdy until the bell rings please.”

I sat down at my desk, peeking at my phone

Spike Scarlatti: See you tonight, 7:00.

I smiled to myself, putting my phone back into my purse

Finally, after 3 more classes it was lunch time and I was becoming a tad nervous about the date, well more like a lot nervous. Mia poked her head in,

“Ready to brave the cafeteria?”

“Ugh, yes. Where’s Sam?”

“Meeting us there. Why so chipper today?” She asked

“I woke up late.” I said, Mia gave me a look as if to say, I-know-you’re-lying-but-I’m-not-going-to-press-it.

“Come on,” she sighed, motioning me to come with her. I locked my classroom behind me and we set off through the labyrinth of hallways.

The sounds of rowdiness increased as we got closer and closer to the cafeteria.

“Mia, Rian,” Sam greeted us, wrapping an arm around his fiancé, and giving her a peck on the lips.

“Hey guys,” his brother Dean said, smiling at us.

We stood in line for ten minutes. I got a wrap, Mia got a chicken Caesar salad, Sam and Dean both got burgers and fries, and we made our way to the teacher’s lounge.

Kennedy, one of the math teachers, waved at Sam, Dean, Mia, and I.

“Hey, I got a table guys!”

Dean smiled at his fiancé, and sat down next to her. I rolled my eyes, I hated being the fifth wheel.

“Kevin!” Dean called across the slightly noisy lounge, drawing the attention of the small, computer science teacher. “We have an empty seat, come over here.”

The green-eyed, brunette man, stared at us for a second before moving towards us and taking the empty seat.

“H-H-Hello.” Was the only word he said all through lunch. We complained about students, talked about TV shows. It was a little weird that Kevin never spoke up, but maybe he was self-conscious, or shy. I brushed it off, and enjoyed my wrap happily until Mia practically screamed

“OH MY GOD YOU HAVE A DATE!”

I choked on my wrap, “Huh?”

“That’s your I-have-a-date-and-I’m-happy-about-it-look.”

“No? Maybe?”

“So yes. Who is he?”

I looked to my side, hoping to start a conversation with Kevin, but he had disappeared. I sighed, giving into Mia as my escape plan had failed.

“He’s an old friend, an SRU member.”

“Oooo, sexy policeman.”

“Oi!” Sam exclaimed

“You’re sexy too.” She said dismissively “So what’s his name?”

“Michelangelo Scarlatti.”

“Hmmmmm…. Where have I heard that name before?”

Kennedy got to it before Mia, “I’ve met him, at, um. Well, at Kris’ funeral. He was pretty gorgeous.” Kennedy said, giving me a sideways glance

“Probably” I replied shrugging, “He was there.”

“Did you see the details about career day?” Dean asked, changing subjects quickly, his tone slightly annoyed. He was probably still thinking about Kennedy and Mia’s descriptions of Spike

“No?” I said, “aren’t they just asking alumns?”

“Nope. There’s going to be a sign up, and every teacher is expected to bring people in.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nope. Charles said the list goes up tomorrow.”

“Who the heck am I gonna bring?” I sighed, resting my head on my folded arms, my brain trying to find someone who I could call.

“Rian, come on. The bell rang.” Mia tugged on my arm.

“Dammit. There’s no peace in this school.”

Mia and Sam split off, turning left out of the lounge, while Kennedy, Dean and I went right.

“Just ask your SRU friends, I hear there’s always a spot for law enforcement. “

“Dean, you are a genius! Now I know why Kennedy likes you.” I responded, teasing him. “I’ll see you guys later.” I waved to them, stepping into my classroom. As I sat down in my chair my phone starting to buzz, sounding like a bee trapped in my purse. I eventually pulled it out.

“Hello?”

“Rian, you little devil!” Jules whispered into the phone, her voice static-y.

“Jules! Are you on shift?”

“No, well maybe…. Yes.” She admitted after a while.

“Well then get off the phone!” I hissed at her,

“No!” She hissed back, “You forget to mention that SPIKE ASKED YOU OUT!”

“Oh…. I didn’t tell you?” Students started to file into my classroom

“NO!” Her voice was getting louder. “I had to find out through Sam, because the guys found out through Spike’s phone!”

“Oh. Sorry...Why were they going through his phone?”

“He’s been wearing a stupid grin on his face all day.”

The bell rang again and I hissed into the phone “You may be able to talk but I have a class to teach. I’ll call you after. Bye!” I pressed end, without giving her a chance to respond.

“Trouble Miss A?” A student called out.

“Not that involves you Mike,” I said, playfully glaring at the boys who laughed.

“Even those of you who have had me before still don’t get how I format my multiple choice sections.” I told the class, passing back tests. “The average was a B, so good job everyone.”

Mike was the last one to receive his test.

“A little more studying than flirting or video gaming next time huh?” I teased Mike,

The class knew I was joking, because Mike actually had the highest grade on the test. We reviewed the test, and I began with the next unit.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. When school was over I stayed a few hours afterwards, trying to catch up on my grading and planning my lessons. As long as we were demanding, the principal did not particularly care what we did. I was singing along to a song, under my breath of course, when there was a knock on my door.

“Come in!” I called, turning down the music. “Hello Mike, Joe, Trevor, Ryan. What can I do for you?” I greeted the students as they approached my desk,

“We just had a quick question about the test?” began Ryan

I smirked. Finally someone was catching on!

“Yes?”

“Are the correct answers really supposed to spell out Cab, Bad, Dad, A?”

“Yup, sounds like me,”

“And then ten letters of each letter in a row?”

“Yup.”

They gave me a look that said: seriously?

“Hey, I need to have fun with my tests. And it makes them easy to grade. Was that all you needed?” I glanced at my watch; 4;45.

“Yeah”

“Yes”

“Yup”

“Yep.”

“Ok then,” I grabbed my keys and briefcase “I have to go.”

All four boys left, pointing at their tests and grabbing their phones. I realized I wasn’t going to get away with that again and would have to start randomizing it.

I was locking up my classroom when I remembered something.

“Boys!” I called down the hallway after them “Don’t tell anyone else. Okay?”

They nodded and continued down the hallway, but I didn’t believe them.

I got stuck in traffic on the ride home; finally pulling into my driveway at 6:15. I ran upstairs. He didn’t tell me to dress nicely, so I found my favorite pair of jeans, and then spent a good five minutes staring at my closet, holding shirts up and looking at my reflection. Finally I decided on a loose dark blue shirt. I yanked the bobby pins out of my hair and brushed it, letting it fall naturally down my back. I applied some eyeliner and mascara before stepping back to look at my reflection. I toyed with the idea of putting on more eye makeup, but decided against it, I didn’t wear a lot of makeup normally anyway. It was 6:50 by the time I had picked my outfit out. I grabbed my purse and made sure I had everything; keys, wallet, cell phone, then I waited, pacing up and down the length of my kitchen, only stopping to slide my black boots on over my jeans. My doorbell rang five minutes later

“You-“ I started, opening the door, but Spike wasn’t there. There, sitting on the welcome mat was a bouquet of lilies. I brought them inside, pulling the cream colored envelope from the flowers.

I’m so sorry, but I must ask you to stay away from Spike Scarlatti. He is a terrible person, he doesn’t deserve you. You are only kidding yourself and him.

I must ask you, for everyone’s protection to stay away from him.

My eyes widened as I read the letter. I stood there staring at it, before I dumped the flowers and the letter into the trash bin.

What? Are you effing kidding me? Who the hell has the guts to send that? My thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell again. I checked the stove clock; 6:59. I cautiously pulled open the door to reveal a nervous looking Spike. I grinned,

“Right on time.”

“That was my goal. Ready to go?”

“Yup.” I turned the lights off and locked the door behind me. “So where are we going?” I asked once we were sitting inside his car.

He just shot me a smile and said “It’s a surprise.”

I humphed “You know I hate surprises.”

He just chuckled. We talked about his job for a while, him ranting about the stupid things they made them do, the fact that the re-qualifying exam was soon, the stupid paper work. How the guys had heckled him and stolen his phone today, and wouldn’t let him forget it. Then we moved on to me. We laughed at some of my student’s expense, I told him more about Kennedy, Dean, Mia, and Sam, although he did know them and soon, he was driving outside the city limits. The sun was setting, when I saw it, carnival lights in the distance. I didn’t think anything of it, but as we got closer and closer, Spike took the exit.

“No.” I said in incredulity,

“Yes.”

“Are you serious?” I said my excitement rising. I was practically bouncing in my seat when we finally parked. I went to grab my purse but Spike stopped me.

“I’ll take care of everything.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” He shot me a leg-weakening smile “You can pay next time.”

Our first stop was the roller coaster. Spike made me sit in the front car and I was freaked out, but it was still fun. We rode the Viking boat, the spinny rides, and then, Spike wanted to go on the one that went upside down.

“No. No way. I’m sorry.”

“Please?”

“No,” But I was weakening,

Spike shot me his best puppy-dog-look “Pretty please? I’ll buy you a treat?”

“……. Fine.”

Spike grabbed my hand and we waited in line. I thought he would let go once we were there but he didn’t. He was practically jumping up and down by the time we reached the front of the line. We sat in the cart and buckled ourselves in. As the ride started Spike held out his hand towards me and I grabbed it, squeezing tightly.

“Don’t be scared.” He whispered in my ear as the ride started moving up the first big hill.

I’m going to kill him was the only thought on my mind as the ride began to move faster.

5 minutes later I was pale and freaking out.

“Michelangelo Scarlatti. You are never convincing me to go on a ride that goes upside down again.” I smacked him repeatedly on the arm as I dragged him away from the ride.

“It wasn’t that bad…. Okay. Maybe it was.” He allowed as I shot him a glare. “Do you want something to eat?” He asked as we started towards the games.

“Yes!”

Spike grabbed my hand again, “Hot dogs it is.”

Spike finished his hot dog in record time and started munching on the fries. I was halfway done with my hotdog when Spike went back and brought back two more.

“Hungry?” I asked when he sat back down. Spike just shot me a smile and took a bite the size of half of the hot dog. I rolled my eyes and finished my dinner.

“Want to try some games?” Spike asked when he was finished, his eyes sparkling mischievously. Spike, with all his SRU skills won almost every game we played. Winning coupons, and several stuffed animals.

“Rian!” Spike called from a booth up ahead. “Which one is the cutest?” he asked pointing at the prizes above the sharpshooting game.

I pointed to a giant teddy bear hanging from the top of the booth.

“Hmmm…. That one!”

“Sir?” Spike asked the guy running the booth, “What do I need to do to get that bear?”

“Hit the target.” A bored voice responded.

“Okay. I’ll try it.” Spike said, forking over the money.

The staff member yawned, chewing his gum and flicked a switch under the counter. Spike picked up the toy gun and took aim. One shot was all it took, and Spike was getting handed a giant bear.

“What should we call him?” Spike asked me, looking at the giant bear.

“Holly?” I suggested

“I think it’s a guy.” Spike responded,

I laughed “okay then. How about Hudson?”

“After Winnie’s dog?”

“Yeah, Winnie’s Hudson looks like a teddy bear.”

“Okay. Hudson it is.” Spike smiled.

It was close to midnight when Spike grabbed my hand again.

“Come on, there’s one more thing we have to do.”

My hand still firmly in his grip, he led the way to the Ferris Wheel.

“Awwww… Spike. You’d better be careful. I’m starting to think you’re sweet.” I kissed him on the cheek before going to stand in line, letting him follow me. When we finally got on we were the only two in the car. Spike climbed in first, offering me a hand once he was in. He pulled me down next to him, still holding my hand and the wheel started to move. We rode in silence watching the city skyline become visible as we moved higher and higher. We stopped around halfway up, the air starting to get colder.

“Wow,” I whispered, staring at the city in the distance, all lit up and glowing.

“It’s pretty isn’t it?”

I pulled my cellphone from my pocket and tried to take a picture.

“Pictures never look as good.” I complained to Spike as we started rising again.

“Just enjoy looking at it,” He said, putting his arm around my shoulders. I rested my head on his shoulder. Everything came naturally when I was with Spike. I smiled as I moved closer, my eyes still fixed on the skyline. We stopped again just over the peak of the wheel and I noticed he was staring at me. I blushed moving away from him so I could stare back.

“What?”

“You look really nice tonight.” He said seriously.

“Well thanks.”

“I’ve waited a long time to ask you out.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Since the first time I saw you.”

I laughed. “Was that too cheesy?” He asked smiling.

“A little,” I admitted. “But me too.” I said, leaning in to kiss him softly. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer. If I hadn’t already been sitting down I would’ve needed too as his kisses made my head feel as if it was filled with butterflies, but the ride started up again and we pulled away. I pecked him on the cheek before settling my head back on his shoulder. We went around twice more, and then we had to get off. We walked back to the car, hand in hand with our other arms carrying Spike’s prizes. We laughed almost the entire way home, remembering people or things we had seen at the fair. Dumb teenagers doing stupid things, cute couples, little kids.

Too soon he was pulling up in front of my house.

“Here, take Hudson with you.” Spike said, thrusting the giant teddy bear at me.

“Thanks Spike.” I said grabbing the teddy bear.

“I’ll walk you to your door.” he said, getting out of the car.

He grabbed my hand as we walked up the driveway, not letting it go even when we got tot my door.

“I had a great time tonight Spike. Thanks.” I kissed him on the cheek, untangling our finger so I could I unlock my door, I was about to step through when I thought of something.

“Be safe on shift tomorrow, okay?” I said, turning to face him

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”

I smiled at him,”I always do.” before standing on my toes and pressing my lips to his. One of his hands moved to the back of my head and the other went to my waist, holding me upright as my knees began to turn to jello. Eventually I needed air and I pulled away,

“Goodnight Spike. Be safe.”

“See you tomorrow?” He asked hopefully.

“Call me.”

I watched him walk back to his car and drive away. I closed the door and locked it, smiling to myself. I grabbed my cell phone and threw my purse on the couch. Setting the giant teddy bear down on my bed. I grabbed the makeup remover and rubbed it over my face to remove whatever I had put on earlier before running a brush through my hair and tying it up in a bun. I slipped on my pajamas, a loose T-shirt and basketball shorts. I was about to go to bed when my doorbell rang. Did Spike forget something? I looked through the peep hole; no one was there. I unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door, there on the doorstep was a cream colored envelope identical to the one currently stuffed into my trash can.

A sense of dread filled me as I picked it up. 7 words were typed on the cream colored letter.

I warned you. Don’t do it again.


	5. Third Time's the Charm

Rian’s POV

My alarm blared at 5:30 the next morning.

Are you serious? I thought, groaning as I let my head fall back onto my pillow as my alarm clock became ever more incessant. Eventually I slammed my hand down on the snooze button and glared at it before pushing myself out from underneath my covers and slouching into the kitchen and starting the coffee pot. My only solace was that today was Friday and soon it would be the weekend. I shuffled back to my bathroom, still yawning as I took a fast shower. When I stepped out after showering, my hair tied up in a towel and a toothbrush stuck in my mouth I unplugged my phone from it’s charger and turned it on. 8 text messages and 4 missed calls. I thumbed through the text messages, reading the inquisitive texts. Jules’ seemed to be the most angry, probably because Spike was telling Sam about it and I wasn’t telling her.

Jules: When are you going to tell me how it went!

Jules: I’m going to kill you! I had to find out everything through the guys!

Jules: Text me! Now!

Kennedy: How did it go?

Mia: How was it? Was there kissing?

Kennedy: You’re depriving me of a dating life. Do you know what it’s like to date the same guy for five years?

Mia: I need some details girl!

Sam Braddock: How was the date?

Sam? Man, guys gossip worse than girls. I thought, rinsing my mouth out. I combed out my wet hair and attempted to blow dry it quickly before using bobby pins to pin it over my left shoulder. I pulled my grey slacks, and long sleeved purple blouse off their hangers, yanking them on as I stole another glance at the clock. Running downstairs I grabbed a muffin from the Tupperware on the counter and ate it as I texted Jules.

It went well. He’s going to call me today. I know you already know that so tell him I’m waiting J.

I went around the first floor of my house, grabbing by briefcase, purse, and keys, and shoving any papers that were lying about into their respective bags. Turning off the coffee maker I poured the scalding liquid into a thermos, stirring in the creamer with a long spoon before screwing the cap on tightly and leaving for work. I got stuck in traffic halfway there and as a result, I was screaming and cursing at everyone I saw. I stormed into school 3 minutes late and slammed my stuff down on my desk, grumbling.

“Get stuck in traffic Miss A?” A ballsy sophomore asked. My students knew that the only time I was this grumpy was when I got stuck in traffic.

I grumbled a response and started the lecture. I ended early and gave them class time to complete the enormous amount of homework I had assigned them for Monday.

It was lunchtime before I was bombarded by Mia and Kennedy asking me how my date was.

“How was it?”

“Did he kiss you?”

“Where’d you go?”

“Oh my god! How old are you two? 16?” I practically yelled over their voices as I rummaged through my purse for my wallet.

“It went fine, he took me to the fair, I had a great time, and that is none of your business.” I raised an eyebrow as I finished my answers.

“I’m starving, can we please go get lunch now? I practically begged them, grabbing my wallet and starting towards the cafeteria. Mia and Kennedy were still pestering me as we entered the cafeteria.

There was no reprieve from the inquisition as we stood in line to purchase our food. Finally I broke away from them as we made our way to the teacher’s lounge.

“Dean! Sam!” I hurried over to the boys who were already scarfing down their hamburgers.

“Save me from your fiance’s. I’m begging you!” I slid into an empty seat at the end of the table, away from the two women.

“Are you guys in high school?” Dean asked, giving us an incredulous look before taking a huge bite out of his burger.

“Apparently” I grumbled. Taking a sulky bite out of my wrap.

The conversation at lunch centered around career day with interruptions from Mia and Kennedy probing for information on the date. Thankfully the warning bell rang and I was able to escape, wishing the couples an excellent weekend.

On the way back to my room I stole another look at my phone. Nothing from Spike. Should I text him?No. Yes? No. Definitely not. I shook my head. Leave it to Spike Scarlatti to be the man I worry about these things with. The rest of the school day was fine until last period. The troublemakers of the class were late to class and as I result, I had to give them a detention. I hate giving detentions. It makes me feel horrible.

The sky had been a gorgeous blue when I had pulled out of the teacher’s parking lot, but by the time I pulled into my driveway at 6:30 it was pouring. I was soaked only from the short run from my car to the front door. I changed quickly, peeling the wet clothes from my skin and putting them in the laundry basket. Sliding on my shorts and a tank top I plopped down on the couch. I was watching the last few episodes of NCIS and making myself spaghetti when my phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Rian?”

“Hey Spike.” I said smiling to myself

“Hey. I’m sorry I didn’t call you any earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it. How was shift?” Instantly I knew that had been the wrong thing to ask. I knew that if I had been standing next to him I would’ve seen him tense up.

“It was fine.” His tone was off, his voice quiet.

“You’re such a bad liar.” I said, exhaling softly into the receiver.

He sighed. “I… I…”

“Spike what happened?” I was getting more and more worried “Spike?”

Someone knocked on my door; two short hard raps and I got off the couch, still waiting for an answer. I was still holding the phone to my ear when I opened the door. There, just standing under the small overhang my roof offered was Spike, looking like a very wet dog. His hair was dripping and plastered to his face, his eyes were bloodshot and his T-shirt and jeans clung to his body like a second skin.

I raised my eyebrows and stepped aside, hanging up the phone as he walked past me. I placed the phone on the small ledge next to the front door, closing and locking the door behind Spike.

“Stay there” I motioned to the dripping man who was standing on the tile in the middle of my front hall. I grabbed a towel from the hall closet, and passed it to Spike on my way to find some of Kris’ old clothes. I located some old exercise pants and a white T-shirt in the closet I still had not cleaned out. Spike still hadn’t said anything.

“The bathroom’s right here.” I said, pointing to the door on the left side of the hallway. He went into the bathroom to change and I heard the pot begin to overboil in the kitchen. I ran to turn down the heat and emptied the pasta into the boiling water. I turned off the TV and emptied the spaghetti sauce into another saucepan, adding chunks of sausage that I had cut up. I heard something behind me, but before I could turn around arms wrapped around my waist and I felt Spike’s head lean down to rest on my shoulder. I realized Spike was crying and I realized that something bad must have happened. We stood there, his arms wrapped around my waist, until the pasta was ready. I dished up the pasta, Spike releasing me only to grab two forks from the drawer I pointed out to him. We sat at opposite ends of the couch, my feet in his lap. We ate in silence, as I knew he would talk when he wanted to. Eventually we were done. I stood up, removing my feet from his lap and taking the dishes to the sink. I put the dishes in the dishwasher along with the other cooking utensils and started it, the hum of the dishwasher filling the silence. I put Spike’s wet clothes into the dryer, adding it’s hum to the dishwasher’s. I walked back to Spike, sitting down next to him and wrapping my arms around him, leaning my head against his shoulder. After a moment or two he toppled us over so he was lying horizontally next to me and wrapped his arms around me pulling me closer as we lay there in silence.. He pressed his face into the crook of my neck, his breath hot on my neck and his voice vibrating the skin there.

“I had to shoot someone today.” His voice was hoarse.

“Spike…” It was a breath, barely loud enough to be heard,

“He was 19, just a kid.” His voice broke on the last word. I closed my eyes as I felt tears well up in them. His fingers clenched on my waist and I saw a few tears escape from underneath his eyelids. I wiped my thumb over his cheekbones, catching the tears before they could fall any further.

“There was nothing you could’ve done Spike.” My fingers started running through his hair. His eyes remained closed, hiding his gorgeous eyes..

“See, that’s where you’re wrong. We had other options, but, but Sarge… He… He called it, and I took it.”

I kissed his forehead, smiling slightly as his eyes flickered open.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

He sighed, I could tell he didn’t believe me but I wasn’t sure what else I could do.

“Spike…” He lifted his head slightly to look at me, “Sarge called it. You took it. You probably saved a lot of lives today.”

He lifted himself up onto one arm so he could look at me. I tried to give him a reassuring smile.

“Thank you.” He whispered, his face coming closer to mine, his breath washing over my face and smelling strongly of peppermint. My gaze flickered between his eyes and his lips until he was too close, and all I could see was his brown eyes. He pressed his lips softly to mine: once, twice, three times. They were tantalizing kisses and my eyes wavered between closed and open as they came and went. He appeared to be leaning back down when I met him halfway, our lips colliding more forcefully than the other times. With one hand in his hair, I laid my head back down, bringing him with me as our lips moved in sync. He pulled back shifting himself so he was more on top of me than to the side of me in order to kiss me better. He recaptured my lips with something akin to desperation. I could feel it too, as though, when we stopped, one of us would disappear.

I let out a slight shriek as he flipped us over with one motion;so I was on top, straddling his stomach. He took the opportunity to slide his tongue into my mouth as one hand traveled from my waist down to my ass I’m not sure how long we made out on the couch for, but when we finally broke apart I could tell we were both tired. I stood up, pulling Spike with me when he caught my arm.

I checked the back door and the front door, making sure they were locked before leading him upstairs to my bedroom. I didn’t even bother changing, I just slid between the sheets, making room for Spike to do the same. We lay there, facing eachother; exchanging the occasional chaste kiss before I whispered.

“I’m not going anywhere.” My eyes started to close of their own accord, my body drifting off to sleep even as I fought to stay awake.

I thought he replied “Neither am I” but I was too far gone and it could’ve been a figment of my imagination.

I was very warm when I woke up the next morning. So naturally what did I do? I tried to get warmer, until I realized that the warmth was hard and immovable.

My eyes slowly opened to find myself staring at someone’s white T-shirt. My eyes slowly moved up the chest to land on a sleeping Spike, the events of last night flooding through my mind again. I cautiously removed his arm from my waist. Pulling on a pair of loose sweats over the short-shorts I had slept in. Closing the door behind me I stumbled into the kitchen and started the coffee, pressing the special combination of buttons I pressed nearly every morning. I turned on Pandora, letting the sounds of Maroon 5 filter through the room. I opened the fridge and grabbed some milk and eggs, placing them on the counter. Going back to the fridge I pulled the remnants of a pack of bacon from the freezer, laid them on a foil covered baking sheet and slid them into the oven. Bobbing my head to the music I whisked the eggs and milk together, pouring them into a pan. I was in the middle of scrambling the eggs and flipping the bacon when I heard a soft noise behind me. I almost screamed as I turned around to see Spike, looking like a sleepy male model, standing next to the coffee pot. He gave me a small smile and poured the coffee into the two mugs I had placed next to the pot.

“Do you still drink your coffee with a gallon of flavoring?” he asked, his voice thick with sleep

I stuck my tongue out at him as I got my peppermint coffee-mate out of the fridge.

“Do eggs and bacon sound good to you?”

“They sound great.” He said, his voice starting to clear up. He moved closer, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me closer, kissing me.

“Good morning.” He said softly once we pulled apart.

“Good morning,” I responded smiling. “By the way, How did you get here? I didn’t see your car out front.”

“I took the bus, and then walked.”

I stared at him “You’re an idiot.” I finally decided, turning to check on the bacon.

“That smells really good.” Spike’s voice said directly behind me

“Oh my god. Spike.” I practically yelled. “Don’t do that!” I carefully placed the burning hot tray of bacon down on the granite counter. “Can you get the plates please?” I asked without looking at him, knowing there would be a huge smirk covering his face.

We talked about random things as we ate breakfast, avoiding last night’s topic of discussion. I was washing the .

“Come on get dressed, I’ll drive you back to HQ”

I pulled on a pair of jeans, a dark blue t-shirt, quickly brushed my hair, and grabbed my car keys. Spike was leaning casually next to the door when I emerged from my room.

“How’s your mom?” I asked when we were on our way back to HQ.

“She’s okay. Um… She’s planning on moving back to Italy actually. She’s going to live with her sister.”

“That’s great!”

“Yeah. I want her to be happy. Living in this house reminds her of dad too much.”

“Well now you’ll have an excuse to go to Italy!”

“Yeah, but now she’ll spend all her free time trying to set me up with someone.”

That shut me up. Grrrr… I thought for a second. Before coming back to my senses. Was I really that jealous?

“Did Jules’ tell you about the cookout she and Sam are having tonight?”

“Yup. Are you going?” I asked him

“Yeah.” We pulled into the HQ parking lot.

“Will you go with me? Like as my date?” Spike asked quickly.

I leaned forwards to give him a kiss on the cheek, but at the last minute his turned, giving me a quick kiss before he hopped out of the car, smirking at me through the open window.

“I’ll pick you up at 5.”

“See you in…” I looked at my clock “…four hours.”

He smiled and waved as I drove off.

I called Jules as soon as I get home.

“How are you?” I asked as soon as she picked up.

“I’m fine. It’s Spike you should be worried about.”

“He spent the night at my place last night.”

“Oooohhhh.. Really?” She asked with attitude.

We talked about Spike and Sam for a while and then she finally told me what had happened on shift yesterday. Finally, she hung up, claiming she had to start getting things ready for the cookout. Yeah right. I used the remaining four hours to clean my kitchen, and grade the tests my sophomore class had taken yesterday. Ugh. They hated taking tests, but grading them was even worse. Finally around five, I decided I should think about getting ready. I stood in front of my closet musing over what to wear. According to the helpful texts I had received from Mia and Kennedy I should wear and I quote: that cute summer dress we made you buy that one time at the mall. Based on that text I could literally pick any summer dress I owned, because almost every dress I owned has been forced on me by Jules, Mia, Kennedy or all three. Eventually I decided on a thin flowy turquoise dress that came to mid-thigh. Knowing Jules, she would probably be wearing a dress as well, so at least I wouldn’t be the only one wearing a dress. I pinned back my slightly wavy reddish hair with several bobby pins. After I had put foundation and a little mascara on it was nearly 6. Digging through my closet I found a white shrug that I knew I would need later. I was putting my wallet and keys into a smaller purse, when the doorbell rang.

“Hey Sp-“ There was no one there. My heart dropped into my stomach as my eyes slowly lowered. There, sitting on my doorstep just like the other two, was a cream colored envelope. My hand shaking nervously I picked it up. For a practical joke, this was certainly going on longer than necessary. Just like before, the words were printed in bold black letters:

I warned you. Now you will have to pay the consequences.

I dropped the letter on the counter and went to the drawer next to the sink, pulling out the identical envelopes I had already received. My phone rang, distracting me from my perusal of the envelopes.

“Hello?”

“Hey Rian.” Jules’ voice filtered through my cell. “I was just calling to make sure you were going to wear a dress.”

“Yeah, I was threatened with bodily harm if I didn’t.”

“Mia or Kennedy?” she asked, amusement coloring her voice.

“Both” I replied with a chuckle, “So what did you end up making?” I asked as my doorbell rang. Jules listed off random food items as I opened the door to find Spike, wearing khaki’s and a light blue button-down shirt. I smiled at him and stepped aside, allowing him to walk past me. “Jules” I mouthed to him, gesturing at my phone.

“Sounds great Jules.”

“Did Spike just get there?”

“Yup.”

“Okay I’ll see you soon Ri.”

“Bye bud.”

I hung up and went to look for Spike. He was standing with his back to me.

“Hey.” I said coming up behind him and looking over his shoulder.

“What the hell is this?” he asked turning around.

My gaze flickered down to his right hand, which held three cream-colored letters.

I looked back up into his worried expression.

How the hell was I going to explain this?


	6. The Break In

Chapter 6:

RIAN'S POV

I gulped as my mind sped through the many excuses. A practical joke? Props for a school play? Props for Halloween? The truth?

"I...I.."

"Is someone stalking you?" Spike asked, cutting right to the chase, his brown eyes cutting right through me.

"I don't know." I answered truthfully.

"Well what are these?" He looked really worried.

"Someone has been leaving these letters on my doorstep ok? I don't know anything else."

“You don’t know?! Someone has been threatening you and you couldn’t even tell me?!”

I stared at him in shock, why was he getting mad at me? He must’ve seen my anger at being yelled at and quickly backtracked.

"I'm sorry Rian. I'm just worried."

"I know ok?” I said sighing, leaning against the counter. “We'll talk about it later? Jules is expecting us."

"Yeah. Okay." He wrapped an arm around me and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “But we will definitely be talking later.”

I grabbed the potato salad from the fridge and locked up the house behind me.

“Do you want to drive?” He asked standing in front of our two cars, trying to figure out which one we would be taking,

“I don’t need to.”

“Okay, let’s take my car.” He said, starting towards the driver’s side. I waited for him to unlock the passenger door and then slid into the seat next to his.

We were in the car, about halfway to Jules’ house when Spike brought it up.

"Rian?"

"Hmm?" I was looking out of the passenger window and mouthing along to song lyrics on the radio.

"What are we?"

“Human beings?” I asked, not really understanding the question.

He burst out laughing so hard I thought we were going to crash. I sat in the seat next to him staring at him, my brain had not yet realized what he had asked.

Once he had calmed down he started again.

“No, Rian. I meant, what’s our relationship?”

That caught me off guard. I hadn’t thought about it to be honest. I had kind of assumed we were dating already.

"I..." I was searching for the right answer when he blurted out

"I want to be exclusive"

"I thought we already were?" I smiled, turning to look at Spike.

He reached over to grab my hand as we came to a stop at a red light, staring directly at me.

“Then I want to make it official. We are dating. You are my girlfriend. That means I can kill anyone who looks at you for too long, and I can call and text you all the time.”

“Pretty steep terms.” I said, trying to keep a straight face. “I guess I don’t really have another option though…”

He leaned forwards, catching me by surprise and kissing me across the seats, before the honking of horns brought us back to the real world.

“It’s green! go! go!” I said, laughing as we made it across the intersection right as the light turned yellow, thoroughly pissing off the commuters behind us. We laughed as we continued to drive and I saw, out of the corner of my eye, the huge smile that stretched across his face.

Finally after about 30 total minutes of driving we arrived at Sam and Jules' house. It was a nice two story beige house about 45 minutes away from headquarters and in a great school district for Sadie. All in all, it was what I hoped to have someday. I loved my house, but it reminded me too much of everyone I’d lost. I had wanted to sell it, but I was in no financial state to deal with that at the moment. Spike pulled up to the curb in front of their beige house, and parked behind what looked to be Ed's car. As I was unbuckling I saw a little girl come running out of the front of the house, the screen door slamming shut behind to I managed to step out of the car, and close the door just in time to sweep Sadie up into a hug as she jumped up as if she was trying to tackle me. I caught her, hugging her and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Aunt Rian!" she shrieked into my ear. I smiled and hitched her up on my hip.

"You know you shouldn't run out of the house like that." I scolded her, but she was too busy reaching for Spike. Seconds later I was abandoned for the taller, stronger man. I chuckled at the sight and made my way to the front door. Opening the screen door for the couple as Sadie loudly told Spike about preschool, her friends, and the frog they had caught during recess.

"Hey Jules! We found something that belongs to you!" I called as we stepped through the door.

"Wha- Oh." She said stepping around the corner and seeing Sadie. "Come here you." She said, lifting her out of Spike’s arms and setting her down on the ground.

"Go play with Isabel hun." Jules told Sadie, ushering her into their backyard.

"Rian! I feel like I haven't seen you in weeks!" She said giving me a hug.

"Same, you look nice. Jules." I scanned her white sundress.

"Hey Spike. There's beer in the fridge and everyone's outside."

Spike got the hint, grabbed a beer, smiled at us, and then headed out to the back yard. We could hear Spike greeting everyone outside and the questions about where I was followed shortly after the greetings.

“I have a present for you.” I said, brandishing the tub of potato salad.

“Mmm… Yumm.” She grabbed it, putting it in the fridge with the other food.

“How are you?” Jules asked again as she poured me some of whatever cocktail she had mixed for the day, soon Sophie, Shelley, Leah, and Winnie entered the kitchen.

“Rian!” Sophie exclaimed, coming to give me a hug as she led the rest of the women inside. I greeted everyone and we all moved into the living room so they could begin their questioning.

“When was your first date?” Shelley asked, taking the seat across from me and crossing he legs.

“Thursday night.”

There was a pause, as if they were waiting for me to elaborate. When I didn’t Leah asked,

“Where did you go?”

“He took me to the fair.”

“What did you guys do there?”

“We went on rides and did fun stuff. I’m not going to tell you anything more.”

“Well are you official now?” This time it was Jules who asked,

"Yeah we are." My answer was accompanied by a blush, “he stayed over last night and we talked about it this morning.” This answer was met with raised eyebrows, "He'd had a bad shift, he just needed some company."

I was met with skeptical looks.

"Nothing happened!" I insisted. Continuing my defense against the barrage of questions. Eventually I moved on, asking Sophie about Clark and his college experience.

Finally I was set free as Sam poked his head in and told us to "stop gossiping and come keep them company."

We laughed, grabbed our various alcoholic beverages and made our way out back. Jules joined Sam at the grill and the rest of us found seats on the ground or in chairs near the guys' circle.

"Rian!" Ed Lane called out, holding his arms out for a hug. I was passed around from Ed to Gregory, Kevin, Sam, and finally to Spike.

"How's Dean and Clark?" I asked Greg and Ed, about to take a seat on the ground in front of Spike.

"They're great. They seem to be too busy at college to even call their parents." Ed mused, sulking slightly.

"But they're having fun." I reasoned.

“Here, I’ll trade you,” Spike said, offering me his seat, which I took, and he sat down on the grass, leaning against my legs.

We talked about the kids for a while and then about the latest screw up by the politicians. Ed and Kevin were about to tear eachother's heads off when Sam interrupted.

"Food's done!" he called, piling the burgers and hot dogs onto a platter. I hopped up and helped Jules ferry out plates, silverware, napkins, macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, regular salad, potato salad, chips, and random bowls of food to the table the guys had set up on the grass outside

"Are you feeding an army?"

She gave me a look "Come on, you know how much these people eat." She said smirking at me. When everything was set out on the table, the men descended on the food. Stepping back, Jules, Sophie, Shelley and I giggled watching the guys and Leah pile their plates high with food. Finally we got a chance at the food as the guys claimed seats for their significant others. I managed to locate a hot dog, some potato salad, and salad. I spotted Spike sitting on Jules' swing chair, close to the Lanes, who were sitting in deck chairs. Spike moved over and I took a seat next to him. I laughed as I saw the mountain of food piled onto his plate. He ignored me and took a huge bite out of his hamburger.

Soon everyone was done with their food and the backyard grew loud with the three different conversations that were occurring.

“You done?” I asked Spike after what seemed like his third trip back for more food.

“Yeah, thanks babe.” He replied, giving me his plate as he relaxed against the back of the swing, using his toes to lightly rock it back and forth. I threw away our plates and sat down on the swing again. Spike placed an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer. I rested my head on his shoulder and half listened to the conversation Spike and Kevin were having, half watched Sadie and Isabel being pushed on the swings Sam had set up in the back corner of their lawn. Sadie was boasting that she could jump off the swing when it was at its highest, but Sam caught her before she has a chance to show off. I sat up with a start, remembering what I wanted to ask them.

"Greg?"

The sergeant's head turned in my direction.

"Rian?" He asked back jokingly

"At my school they are having career day. And I was hoping Team one would be willing to be my career?"

"Are the administrators too good to look for people themselves?" Ed asked smiling at us.

"Too lazy. This is the first year we have to do it ourselves. Please say you'll do it! I don't want to call my lawyer and ask him." I made a face thinking of my creepy but very good lawyer.

"Sure. We'll do it." Greg said smiling.

"I owe you big time! I'll spring for breakfast that morning! I'll email you the details!"

“What’s this career day?” Spike asked in my ear, his breath warming the back of my neck.

“Oh, you know. It’s one of those days where we get people to come in to talk to the students about careers they might be interested in.”

“Sounds like fun.” He replied,

“I know it won’t be super intere-”

“No I was serious. Hopefully we’ll make a good impression on the kids and they’ll want to grow up to be just like me!” He said, posing like a superhero with his hands in fists at his waist and his chest puffed out.

I laughed at the sight he made.

“Mhmmm, yeah batman.”

He laughed again, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, as we listened to Ed and Greg argue about a recent hockey game.

The later it got, the more tense I felt Spike get. Had forgotten about my stalker? Did he still want to talk about it? My mind ran through the possibilities. What could he do about it? He was probably going to want me to talk to the police.

“What’s wrong?”

He visibly tried to relax at my question, “Nothing… It’s just a feeling.”

“Okay.” I kissed him on the cheek, hoping he would eventually tell me what was wrong.

Eventually it was time to go. Sadie and Isabel had fallen asleep inside on the couch and it was starting to drizzle.

We said our goodbyes, I hugged the girls and Spike did that handshake thing that guys do. They made the usual we'll stay safe promise, and then Spike and I were alone, walking down the street, hand in hand, to where Spike’s car was parked.

"Did you have fun?" He finally asked.

I looked to my right, only making out the outline of his face from the porch light of the house we were passing.

"Yeah, it was nice to see everyone. Sadie and Isabel have gotten so big!"

"Yeah, I remember when Jules first brought her into HQ. She was just a pipsqueak."

Spike unlocked the car, but followed me around to the passenger side.

“What’s up?” I asked, turning around to face him.

“Nothing. I just want to make use of my boyfriend rights.” He said,

I smiled, standing slightly on my tiptoes so I could kiss him. He pulled me closer, one hand on the small of my back as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled away from me, panting slightly and opened the door for me.

“My lady.” He said, bowing slightly as I climbed into the car.

“Why thank you kind sir.”

He turned on the radio once we were on our way back to my house, and despite our impromptu concert I could feel the tension underlying Spike’s singing. He hadn’t forgotten about the letters. When we finally pulled into my driveway Spike put the car in park and pulled his keys out of the ignition.

"Can I come in? There's something I think we need to talk about."

"Sure." I tried to smile, thinking of how I would explain this.

I unlocked the front door, stepping to the side to let Spike pass me as I fumbled around for the light-switch. I could’ve sworn I left the hall light on. I found it and flicked in upwards. Not a second after the light had filled the room, Spike jumped in front of me like a shield, his arms going out to the sides, like a basketball player guarding an opponent.

"What's-" I gasped as I saw the state of my house.

Picture frames were smashed, clothes and linens were scattered all over the floor, drawers were turned out. Someone had completely trashed my house.Spike motioned for me to follow him, and, room-by-room he cleared the entire house. When he was certain there was no one else in the house he drew his cell phone from his pocket dialing someone..

"This is Constable Scarlatti, badge number 3-4-9-6."

Someone on the other line said something, and then he was talking again.

"No, it's not me. I just walked my girlfriend to her house and someone broke in and ripped her house apart...No just a squad car please."

He gave my address and hung up.

"Are you okay?" Spike asked me, kneeling in front of the couch where I had sat down, still shocked at what had happened.

"I...I don't know?"

It was more of a question than anything else. Spike wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug. I hugged him back. Being surrounded by cops I knew I couldn't touch anything until the cops showed up.

I pulled away, running to the kitchen and opening the drawer where I had stashed the envelopes. The only thing that had been touched in the kitchen was the fridge, so the notes were still there.

I let out a sigh of relief as Spike reached over my and picked them up.

“Rian I don’t wa-”

“I’ll tell you what I know.” I said, leading him back outside as we waited for the police to come.

“A few weeks ago, I began receiving these letters. Some come with flowers, and they say stuff like, well… you can read them for yourself, and I just thought it was someone playing a prank, until tonight.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want to seem weak? I don’t know.”

He placed his hands on either side of my face, forcing me to look at him “you can tell me anything. Anything.” He looked so serious, angry even. His jaw was clenched, his eyes, darker than normal. Was this what he was like on the job? He hugged me, and I realized he was shaking.

“Spike? Are YOU okay?”

He paused for a minute.

“I’m just so angry. What if you had been at home? What if I hadn’t been here? Wha-”

“Shhh… You were here.” I interrupted him, “I’m fine, you’re fine.” A squad car with flashing lights pulled into my driveway behind Spike's car. “Come on, let’s go talk to the officer.”

We stood, up, seeing two black forms climb out of the car, the light from the house not quite reaching them.

"Mike?" said a disbelieving voice.

"Tony!" Spike said, smiling reaching out to shake the officer's hand, as the officer walked through the light from the porch.

"Rian, this is Tony Mendoza. An old friend."

"So this is the girlfriend? Nice to meet you.” He shook my hand. “Shall we get started?"

Tony motioned to his partner, who was examining my front door.

"Hello, I'm Jason Moran." The partner said, looking up and giving me a small smile, "It looks like someone picked the lock. Miss?" I turned to face him, "We have a really good locksmith we can call if you want. He could be here in a few minutes."

"That'd be great, thanks." I responded, letting Officer Moran radio in for the locksmith.

They looked for fingerprints, trace evidence and asked me if anything was stolen. It didn't seem like anything was but I told them, “with everything scattered around the house I can’t really tell you.”

“That’s okay ma’am. If you do find that something is missing, let us know.”

“I will, and Rian’s fine.”

“Do you notice anything else weird? Appliances that were on when you left and are now off? Was the bed made this morning?”

" No, we didn’t make the bed, but I think they used my printer through. My laptop and printer were definitely off when I left."

Tony wrote that down, and finished taking my statement. Then, he and Spike started talking about my stalker. Spike showed him the letters and told him what I had said. Tony wrote that all down and made a separate police report about that, but put them in the same file. When Spike was done talking Tony asked me a few more questions about my stalker and then went to look around some more.

Spike took me aside, "Come on, I want you to stay at my place tonight."

"...Okay." I responded after pausing a little, I was too tired to put up a fight.

It was close to 2:00 by the time the locksmith finished. I handed over the check and thanked him for coming so late.

"It's just the job Miss. Thank you though."

I didn't even worry about cleaning my house , I just grabbed a bag and threw some of my clothes and toiletries into it. Using my new locks on the front and back doors, I locked up my house and climbed into Spike's car. Somewhere along the way I must've fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, Spike was gently shaking me awake. Still half asleep I stumbled and tripped up Spike's front steps, him leading me by the hand. He unlocked the door quietly and guided me to his room. I flopped on the couch in his room, across from the bed, too tired to do anything else. Spike was leaning over me, but I was asleep before I could hear what he was saying.

When I woke up, I didn't immediately open my eyes. I stayed still, enjoying the warmth. Wherever I was, it also smelled great. I rolled over, slowly opening my eyes to find myself in an empty bed. Spike must've moved me from the couch. I sat there for a minute as the events of last night washed over me. I found the bag I had packed sitting on the couch where I had fallen asleep last night.. Pulling a black tee and white shorts out of the bag, I quickly changed and yanked the brush through my wavy hair, braiding it quickly. Once I looked at least slightly presentable I left Spike's bedroom. Following the smell of sausage I found him in the kitchen. I leaned against the doorway, looking him over; I could definitely get used to this. He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of plaid pajama pants and concentrating incredibly hard on the pancakes and sausage on the stove in front of him. I tiptoed behind him, wrapping my arms around his torso, and kissing the back of his neck. He shivered under my touch, despite how warm he was, and I smirked at the effect I had on him.

"You're up." He said, still facing front, although I could hear the grin in his voice.

"Yeah, thanks for everything. I owe you."

"Yeah? I think I could think of a few ways you could repay me." He said smirking as he turned around, forcing me to let go, before pressing a quick kiss to my lips and going back to his cooking.

I walked around to the other side of the stove, which was set in the two level island, taking a seat directly across from him. I watched him cook, my eyes repeatedly drawn to his muscles. I’m sorry, okay! What would you do if an incredibly toned, incredibly hot guys, basically stood in front of you, flexing his arms?

Spike caught me staring and laughed,

"I think we should tell Team One about your stalker."

"Why? I don't want Jules to worry about me."

"Well I was thinking about it. And that hostage situation you were in? I think that may have started it. Like I said I'm not sure. But you are going to need help cleaning your house. We aren't on shift today and I know Jules is going to want to know what happened. Food’s ready.”

I sighed, Spike was right of course, I just didn't want to admit it. I thought about what I would say next as we got plates and forks and syrup. Despite my new locks, I didn’t feel particularly enthusiastic about going home.

"I have one condition." I started, unsure of how he was going to react to what I was going to say next.

I sat down next to him at the table. "I want you to stay with me for a little bit. I'm hop-  
"You don’t have to give me a reason. A: I'd love to, B: I was going to suggest that, and C: then my mom can have the house to herself for a while."

"Speaking of your mom, where is she?" I took a huge bite out of the stack of pancakes in front of me.

"She went shopping, running errands and church"

"Ah," I looked at the clock, it was almost noon "Man, I slept for a long time."

"You were up until almost 2:30 last night." Spike pointed out, his mouth full of pancake..

"I know, but it's going to take forever to clean up the house, I should really be getting back."

"Well finish breakfast, let me grab a shower, pack a bag and we'll go."

I did the dishes while he showered, changed and packed a bag. Halfway through I got cold and went on a hunt for a sweatshirt. I knocked on the door to his bedroom and, not hearing anyone, opened it quickly, making a beeline for his closet, which I was sure had to hold some sweatshirts. He wore them all the time, so he had to have some in here. I was rooting around in his closet when a voice said,

"Looking for something?" He asked, smirking

I whirled around, my gaze landing on a practically naked, dripping wet Spike. At least he had a towel on.

"Uh... Yes." I tore my gaze away from him and back to the closet "do you have any sweatshirts?"

I felt him walk closer, he came up right behind me and pushed the clothes out of the way to graba grey SRU sweatshirt from the back of his closet

"Is this good enough?"

"Hmm? Uh yes... Thanks" I snatched the sweatshirt and put it on, hurrying back to the kitchen to finish the dishes.

I was looking at the pictures Mrs. Scarlatti had hung on the walls, when Spike emerged from his bedroom, black bag in hand.

"Ready?"

I nodded, grabbed my bag and headed out to the garage, still wearing his sweatshirt. On the way to my house I called Jules, Winnie, Greg, and Ed. I only had time for four calls, so Jules promised me she would call Shelly and tell her and Kevin.

Greg was already at my house when Spike and I got there.

"What happened?" He asked, looking worried.

"Can we wait until everyone gets here?"

I opened the front door, freezing as my eyes took in my shattered house; everything looked worse in daylight.

"Rian! What happened here?" Greg asked shocked.

One by one cars pulled into my driveway and parked along the street in front of my house. Once everyone else was here Spike and I told them about my stalker, the letters, and the break in last night. I ended my explanation by asking them to help me clean my house. 6 hours later my house was relatively back to normal and I had 5 trash bags full of shattered glass and broken items. Winnie and Jules had helped me wash most of the clothes and hang them back up. I ordered dinner from Simone's for everyone and soon my dinner table was littered with takeout containers and bags. It was 8, by the time everyone left, they had shift tomorrow, and I had to go to school.

"I made up the guest bedroom if you wanted it." I told Spike as I laid a bath-towel and washcloth on the dresser. "I left the code to the garage, and a spare key on the kitchen counter."

Spike was sitting on the guest bed, looking at me.

"You'll probably be gone by the time I get up." I frowned, "so coffee is in the fridge, and frozen waffles, are, of course, in the freezer."

Spike reached out and pulled me forwards gently. We hadn’t really been alone together since this morning. Wow, I was turning into such a bimbo. I moved so I was standing between his legs, my arms wrapped around his neck.

"See you tomorrow." He said, kissing me lightly on the lips. I leaned into it, turning a sweet kiss, into a hot, passionate one. I pulled away when I needed a breath.

"See you tomorrow," I replied.

I showered, pulled on my pajamas and slid into bed. I fell asleep, quickly, soundly. There was no way I could've imagined what would happen tomorrow.

Cause tonight I'm feeling like an astronaut sending SOS fr-

BAM my hand slammed down on my alarm clock. I hate Mondays.

I just laid under my covers, trying to determine if Spike had left yet or not. I couldn't hear anything, so I assumed he had left. Glancing at my clock again I cursed, of course I would be running late. I must've hit snooze earlier and forgot about it. I quickly grabbed the first thing I was which happened to be a purple dress with a black belt and grey heels. I slid a grey cardigan over it and made my way into the kitchen. The coffee was already made, I just poured it into a to-go cup and added my creamer. Jules checked in as I was pulling out of the driveway, making sure everything was okay.

“I’m fine Jules, just running a little late. “

“You said Spike was staying with you right?”

“Yes Jules, he has taken over the roll of my babysitter for the time being.”

“I don’t think he minds,” Jules said, and from the tone of her voice I could tell she was smiling.

“Well I don’t particularly mind either.” I admitted.

“Good.” A voice much deeper than Jules said into the phone.

“JULES! WERE YOU ON SPEAKER!” I shouted through the phone.

“No, I just stole it from her,” Spike said laughing.

He was just about to say something when I faintly heard the alarm and someone’s voice calling “Hot call team one.”

“Go,” I told Spike. “And be safe.”

“Will do. See you later Rian.” With that he hung up.

I was, of course, late getting to school. I practically ran through my classroom door as the bell rang, my class laughing at me.

“Hello!” I said, much to their surprise. A few shot me some surprised looks, as I was normally cranky when I was running late.

My voice was tired by the time lunch came around. 4 back-to-back periods of lecturing had really tired me out. I guzzled half of my water bottle when Dean poked his head in.

“Hey, Mia and Kennedy sprinted off, so are you going to lunch?”

“Yeah. Coming.”

“Oh, I’m guessing you didn’t sign up for career day?”

“Crap,” I groaned, “no, I haven’t yet.”

“Just do it at lunch, the list is hanging in the lounge.”

“Will do.”

I grabbed a caesar salad, and walked with Dean to the teachers lounge. Mia, Kennedy, Sam, and Kevin were already sitting at a table. I took an open seat across from Kevin.

“Hey guys,”

“Someone sounds tired.” Mia wiggled her eyebrows at me.

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, lecturing for four periods can do that to you.” I stabbed my salad with the plastic fork.

“How were morning classes?” I asked between bites.

“Mine were fine, lots of tests.” Mia said,

“So you were basically online shopping?”

She just smirked at me.

“So is it true, Mike Scarlatti is staying with you?” Kennedy asked outright.

All three guys, proceeded to choke,

“How long have you been dating this guy?” Dean asked, sputtering.

“Like, a week, but we’ve been friends for our whole lives Dean. And he’s only doing that because someone broke in and trashed my house.” I added nonchalantly, hoping they wouldn’t notice.

“WHAT?!” Dean and Sam said simultaneously.

“Mia and Kennedy didn’t tell you?”

“Whoops?” Mia said, while Kennedy examined her nails.

I took that opportunity to go write my name down, and who I was bringing for career day. When I got back to the table, Kevin gave some excuse and left, followed shortly by me. I had to get the rest of my notes up for the junior class after lunch.

By the time 3:00 rolled around I was dying. I had lectured for practically the entire day and I had to stick around to give extra help. I made my umpteenth trip to the drinking fountain to refill my water bottle. 4:30 rolled around and the names of Roman generals and Asian dynasties filled my brain. Were they done? Were they safe? What had the hot call been? I checked my cell phone as I walked to my car; still no messages. I pulled out of the parking lot, turning on the news, hoping to catch a little bit of whatever had happened. I got my answer halfway home.

Breaking News Report. A smooth-voiced reporter said over my radio. Early this morning an armed man took control of John Galloway’s main campaign office. Details are unknown but we have been told that negotiators are talking with the man about releasing the hostages. We have learned that among the hostages, are Senators Jean Pelletier and Kenneth Gagnon.

They hadn’t said there had been any shooting, so I was relieved, but I listened to the radio the rest of the way home. As soon as I got home I flipped on the TV, switching to the news channel. As I expected, the news networks were covering the hostage situation. I made sure my phone was turned up as high as possible. I sat for the next 2 hours staring at my TV, and trying to get some paperwork done. It was close to 7 when it came on the news.

Breaking News: Shots were fired at the Galloway campaign office. Details are still a little hazy but it seems as though the instigator was taken down, but a police officer was also injured. More details shortly.

My heart stopped. There, on the TV, team one was in the background, the visual was fuzzy, but I could make out the team crowded around the ambulance in the background. I grabbed my keys and purse, sprinting out the door. As I fumbled with the keys, trying to lock the door behind me something caught my eye. There on the doorstep was a goddamn cream-colored envelope. There was only one word on it this time, and it made my blood run cold.

Consequences.

I drove like a madwoman, ignoring my phone, which was ringing off the hook. I burst into SRU headquarters in record time. Taking the stairs two at a time I arrived at Winnie’s communications desk out of breath.

“Where is he?!”

Winnie looked at me worried, “I…I”

“Rian!” I turned to face Jules. “Is he okay?” I demanded.

She looked at me for a moment before opening her mouth to answer.

“He’s in the hospital Rian.”


	7. The Senator's Office

Chapter 7:

Jules' POV

As I looked into my best friend's terrified eyes as I told her Spike was in the hospital I couldn't help but think back. What had gone wrong?

************************************************************

The morning had been like any other; waking up, breakfast, dropping Sadie off on the way to HQ. I was suited up about 10 minutes ahead of schedule and sitting on the bench in the guys locker room, waiting for everyone else to get ready.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, still worried about my best friend, who was being terrorized by some stranger

"Hey Rian." I said when she picked up, "How was last night. You okay?"

"I'm fine Jules, just running a little late. "

"You said Spike was staying with you right?"

"Yes Jules, he has taken over the roll of my babysitter for the time being." I could almost hear her eyes roll

"I don't think he minds," I smirked, looking over my shoulder and eyeing the boys, who were teasing the crap out of Spike.

The phone was snatched from my hand and I whirled around to see Spike holding it to his ear, turning the volume all the way up so I could hear too.

"Well I don't particularly mind either." She admitted.

"Good." He said, smiling.

"JULES! WERE YOU ON SPEAKER!" I faintly heard her shout at me.

"No, I just stole it from her," Spike said laughing.

"Hot call team one." The alarm sounded.

"Damn" I muttered.

I couldn’t hear what Rian said over the alarm, but it was probably something like ‘Stay safe’.

"Will do. See you later Rian." Spike murmured into the phone before handing it back to me.

"Let's go loverboy!" Ed shouted from the locker room.

I grabbed the bags I had pre-packed, while everyone else hurriedly packed theirs.

Sam grabbed the keys to one of the SUV’s and I hopped in the passenger seat. Soon everyone else was in the cars as well, Leah leading the way with Sarge.

Winnie briefed us in the cars on the way over. An HT had taken over the campaign offices of Senator John Galloway, we knew for sure that he had some kind of automatic weapon, but that was all we knew. The people who had escaped through the back door hadn’t seen him, they had only heard the gunshots

"Do we know who the subject is yet?" I heard Greg ask over the comms,

“No. Although, officers are still interviewing the volunteers who managed to escape.”

“Okay. Jules, you and I will help interview, see if anyone saw anything. Ed you’re Sierra One, Sam you’re Sierra Two. Leah, look at the blueprints, and Spike, get us eyes and ears.”

I could hear a chorus of “Yeah Boss.” over the comms. Sam turned of the siren, but not the lights as we pulled up in front of the mobile truck that everyone was using as headquarters. I could see Spike flashing his badge in order to get into the mobile unit where they would have the computers and probably access to the phone lines already. I hopped out, finding Sarge, and together we set out to find the workers that had escaped.

I found them first. They were young, mostly college students probably and they looked scared to death. They were grouped in by a few policemen who were attempting to take statements

I called Sarge over, “Boss. I found them. We’re a little west of the building next to the Office.”

“Okay, start the interviews without me I’ll be there in a second.”

“Officers?” I approached the policemen who appeared to be in charge of the witnesses “Jules Callaghan SRU. Which ones haven’t you interviewed?”

“These… one, two, three, four, five.” he counted under his breath, “These five right here.” He said, using his finger to draw a circle around the five. I approached the one closest to me, he was short, though taller than me, and had a mop of black hair that kept falling between his eyes and the big glasses he wore high on the bridge of his nose.

“Sir? Sir?” I motioned towards him and he looked around, as though checking to make sure I was really calling him, before stepping forwards.

“What’s your name?”

“Henry Burke.”

“And what’s your job in the Senator’s campaign?”

“I’m in charge of volunteers. I hire volunteers and record who volunteers and where they go and what they do.”

“Were you in the back?”

“No… I saw him come in. I was in the back of the front though, so I…”

“So you ran?”

“Yes.” The answer was mumbled, almost as if he was ashamed,

“Don’t be ashamed, you ran. You were supposed to run.”

“But I left all my friend-”

“They are happy you escaped, because now you can tell me all about what you saw. And that’s going to help, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Okay Henry, I need you to tell me everything you saw.”

As Henry started his tale I saw Sarge out of the corner of my eye, come up and start interviewing another volunteer.

“I was..” my attention went back to Henry, “...putting the latest volunteer roster back in the filing cabinets, when there was a commotion up front. I turned around just as the guy started firing off bullets. Tom,” he gestured to the guy standing next to him, looking white as a sheet, “was with me and I grabbed him and ran.”

“Can you describe the man?”

“Tall, black, he was dressed all in black and the vest he was wearing was big, like too big for him.”

“How could you tell?”

“It was slipping off his shoulders.”

“Are there any security cameras in the office?”

“Three. One watching the front door, one watching the back door, and one watching as much of the office as possible, it’s located right above the door to our boss’ office.”

“Okay, do you remember anything else?”

“No.”

“Okay, thank you… Tom?” I asked, turning my attention to his friend. Henry nudged him when he didn’t respond.

“Tom?”

“Uh… yeah.” He said, slipping out of whatever daydream he had been having

“You were inside too?”

“I think I know who it is.”

“Who do you think it is?”

“Uh, his name’s Thomas Marcellus. He used to work here. We were friends, cause of our names.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, get a look at his arm, he has a tattoo of a flag on his forearm, it’s the flag of the nation where his mother was born. I saw it when he raised the gun in the air.”

“Okay, I’ll check on that, is there anything else you remember?”

“It happened just like Henry said, he dragged me out.”

“Okay. Do you two know if anyone was injured?”

“No, he shot at the ceiling.”

“Okay thank you, stay here until an officer tells you you can leave.”

I tapped Sarge on the shoulder before walking a few feet away.

“It looks like we have an ID.” I announced to the team

"A worker in the back room managed to get out the back exit. He says he thinks it's an ex-employee. A Thomas Marcellus. Do we have eye’s in yet? The witness says he has an flag tattooed on his right forearm"

"What do we know about him?" Sam asked

Winnie's voice came over the comms. "Um..." the sound of typing filled the silence "...31, he used to work for Galloway until he was fired last month. One sec, when I ran his name there was a flag... Looks like there was a restraining order taken out by, Galloway against Marcellus, for harassment. And he broke the order twice."

"Hmm. What do you think Jules?"

"Disgruntled ex-employee?" I said, the first reason that popped into my mind

"Possibly."

I turned around to talk to Henry and Tom again.

“Gentleman?” Their eyes snapped towards me, “Can you tell me about what happened when Marcellus was fired?”

“There was no reason.” Tom said, frowning, “There was an email about it from Galloway. We were confused because we didn’t know he knew anything about any of us, but the email had his confirmation code, so Robert, our boss, had to let him go. Thomas was pretty upset about the whole thing.”

“But there was an email.”

“Yeah, and some bullshit about a leaking stories to reporters. I don’t really know. The whole thing was fishy.”

“Ok. Thanks guys.”

“Winnie, is there anything off about Marcellus?” I asked, stepping away from everyone so I could hear her response better.

“Not really, his mom came here from...Nigeria in 1980, married a canadian citizen and died from cancer when he was 15. He did fine in school and was about to become a political consultant when he was fired.”

“Okay thanks.”

“Jules, we’re going back, the negotiator wants us to take over, says the HT’s being unresponsive.”

I followed Sarge back to the offices, listening and documenting what was happening on the other side of the comms.

"Sarge?" Spike asked, sounding troubled over the comms. "Someone already hacked in, leaving the back door wide open, so to speak."

"What do you mean Spike?"

"I mean someone is already watching and listening to everything that is going on in the room."

"Can you trace it?"

" I tried but its being routed through at least 15 different countries. But someone said something about a tattoo right?”

“Yeah, it’s a Nigerian flag.”

“I have confirmation on that. The HT does have a tri-part flag tattoo on his arm...wait...Guys?"

"What Spike" 

"Do you guys have a visual from the outside?"

"Not yet. Leah and I are about to make contact, he’s closed the blinds so we’re gonna call him, Winne?”

“I’ll connect you Sarge. Usual drill guys, he’s only going to be able to hear Sarge on Channel 1, so make sure you are on Channel 3.”

“Got it Winnie.”

"Jules come look at this,"

“Okay, I’ll be right there.” I jogged back towards the mobile unit, flashing my badge in the door. walking to where Spike was sitting with an image magnified on his screen. It was Marcellus, the tattoo on his arm looking green and black on the skin of his forearm, but Spike wasn’t pointing to the tattoo. His finger was tapping a point on the image frozen on his screen.

"Does that look like an earpiece to you?" He asked, his finger moving to the left slightly so I could see better.

I looked at the image, leaning down to get a closer look.

"I can confirm." I said into the comm. "it does look like the subject is wearing an earpiece"

It was the color that gave it away, the earpiece was several shades lighter than Marcellus’ skin tone, but it appeared high tech; tt was very small, but very powerful.

Spike broke in "I'm going to look for radio waves being broadcasted"

In the background we could hear Sarge start talking to the HT, Marcellus had finally picked up a hardline. Through the speakers in the mobile unit we could hear Marcellus’ end of the conversation as Spike had reversed the phone lines, allowing us to listen to everything.

“Spike do you have anything on that radio signal?” Sarge asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“Not quite…. one second… Yeah.”

“You have it?” Spike’s fingers were flying over the keyboard so fast I thought the keys would fall off.

"Yup. Someone's broadcasting something directly into that building."

I needed something to do, Spike was busy hacking, Sarge and Leah were dealing with this HT… we needed more information.

"I'm going to call the officer that arrested Marcellus for violating his restraining order. Winnie, can you put me in contact with that officer?"

"Yeah Jules, give me a sec..... Here it is. Officer Morrows."

I picked up my cell phone, seeing the number pop up in an email from Winnie. Clicking on it I heard the phone ring.

"Morrows."

"Hello officer this is Jules Callaghan from the strategic response unit."

"Ah, hello. What can I do for you."

"I saw that you picked up a Thomas Marcellus for violating his restraining order a week ago?"

"Hmm... Really?"

I heard the sound of papers shuffling around.

"Are you sure it was me?" He asked confused.

"That's the name on the report."

"That's weird. I don't have a copy of that, and I don't remember doing any restraining orders last week. Let me check with the rest of the division."

He put down the phone and I could hear voices in the background. A minute or two later he came back "yeah that wasn't me."

A bad feeling started in my gut.

"Is there anyone else that could've picked him up."

"No. You said he was booked and there was a restraining order? What day?"

"Ummm.... Tuesday."

"Let me check something."

I heard some yelling in the background and a few minutes later he was back and out of breath.

"We don't have any paper record of a restraining order, or picking him up."

I froze.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. According to us this guy is squeaky clean."

"Thank you for all your help."

I hung up before he could say anything else. Spike shot a look at me and did a double take.

"What's wrong Jules"

"Guys. I said over my comm.

"Yeah Jules." Said the Sarge.

"According to the PD, no restraining order was filed, and they've never picked him up. At all."

"That's not possible," Winnie said over the comms. " I’m looking right at the report, it's right here."

Spike burst in, “Winnie, do you know how to take a screen shot?”

“Yeah”

“Take, it document everything on Marcellus that YOU see in front of you...Sarge. I think this guy is under duress, and someone set him up. Someone good.”

Sarge addressed Spike. " can you get a fix on those radio waves."

"No. There's too much interference, whoever is broadcasting is doing it at at least 15 of frequencies all too close together for me to get a fix-"

He was interrupted by what sounded like terrified screaming and a loud voice yelling. Even though I couldn’t see it from inside the truck, my eyes snapped towards the office building, as if bracing myself for gun shots.

"Okay. Come out and help us. He's escalating."

Spike tucked his gun back into his belt and made his way out of the truck.

It couldn't have been 30 seconds after he exited the truck when we heard it. 2 distinct shots then the screams.

"Jules stay where you are!"

"Officer down."

"Subject down"

"Who the hell took the shot?" 

“Who the hell hit one of us?”

“Ed, Sam, was it you?”

“Negative boss, we didn’t have a spot, we are both still trying to find one.”

"Get me an ambulance"

"He's gone. Look at this."

“Sarge? Sarge?”

I couldn’t disobey my orders, so I waited, pacing inside and listening to the conversations until Ed and Sam stuck their heads in.

“Come on.” Ed, Sam and I passed Spike already being loaded into an ambulance, we crowded around him just long enough to know he’d be fine, before Sarge was summoning us inside the building

"What the fuck happened." I asked as we entered the building to find everyone crowded around the dead body of Thomas Marcellus.

"He was approaching the door and someone shot him."

"Look at this sarge." Ed spoke up, we all turned to face him, he had our back to us, pointing with his finger along what we assumed, he was guessing to be the trajectory of the bullet.

"The angle of this shot. This was a sniper."

He stood up, looking across the street.

"There. The guy hit Spike too." He pointed to an open window.

“Okay everyone,” Sarge said into his microphone, being broadcasted across the police radios. “We have the shooter in a window of the building across the street, be advised, position currently unknown, status unknown, SRU moving to apprehend. Come on Team, formation.”

We crossed the street, guns up and at the ready, our eyes moving over the street, looking for anything out of place. We took the stairs, finding that the floor in question was undergoing rennovations. We arrived at the window and found it. A whole command center. Two monitors, each showing the security camera feed from inside the office, a high tech radio, and some other technology I didn’t recognize.

"Damn it."

"Get forensics up here" Sarge ordered. "I want every inch on this place scrubbed down."

As much as it pissed us off we couldn't go to the hospital yet, we had to fill out the reports. I tried calling Rian, but she didn’t pick up. I was afraid she would see what happened on the news and freak out. We were just finishing up the reports when Rian came running into HQ. I saw her from the side, she was slightly out of breath and looked so nervous.

"Where is he?" She asked, eyes wide, looking at Winnie.

"I... I..." Winnie said, unsure as to how to answer the question.

"Rian!" I called out to her

"Is he okay?" She asked, looking straight at me.

"He's in the hospital."

Her eyes grew wider, if that was possible.

"But he'll be fine.” I quickly reassured her, “ He moved just in time, he caught it in the arm. He'll be fine."

"Jules!" Sam called, " Sarge wants us in the briefing room. Hey Rian. We'll be out in a few okay? Wait for us, we all want to go to the hospital. And you’re in no condition to drive" he said, pointing to her trembling hands. She didn’t even put up a fight, she just collapsed into the chair next to Winnie’s.

“What’s in the briefing room?” I asked Sam as we walked down the hall.

“I don’t know, Sarge just said something about the shooting.”

Sam and I were last to arrive, everyone else had already taken their seats around the table, facing someone I vaguely recognized, who was standing next to Sarge.”

Once Sam and I were seated he started.

“I’m Agent Auburn and I was assigned to your case this morning. We've processed the scene and our detectives have a theory, so bear with us. We searched Marcellus’ house during the hostage situation and found video, and written threats directed at hi,m. They told him that if he didn’t do what the letters said, the threatener would kill his family. Based on the specifics given in the letters is appears as though the Hostage situation was a set up to get you out in the open."

We all shared looks. This was not good, it was hard enough to do our job without someone trying to take us out.

“Is this the same person that hacked us?” Ed asked, looking concerned.

“Hacked?” The detective said, looking at Sarge.

“Yeah, we believe that someone hacked our database, when we looked up Marcellus we were given some information that doesn’t line up with what the police have on file.”

“Well I’ll get someone on that, excuse me.” The investigator pulled out his phone, talking to someone quietly on the other line for a minute, before hanging up.

“Okay, someone from cyber crimes is going to come by and check out your system. Do you have anything that documents this?”

“Winnie, our dispatcher, supposedly took some screen shots.”

“Okay, I’ll make sure CC talks to her, okay back to the case. I know this team has a lot of enemies, but because Spike was the only one shot, is there anything that makes him special?"

Sam and I looked at Sarge.

"Actually, there might be," Sarge said.

"Spike's girlfriend... she has a stalker who does not want her anywhere near Spike. The stalker might be desperate enough to try to take Spike out and make it look like an accident. But I wouldn’t assume anything.”

“We’ll look into it. What’s the name of the girlfriend?”

“Rianna Azarov. She’s right there.” I said, pointing through the glass at Rian, who was talking to Winnie.

“Okay.” He said, making a note in his handheld. “ Anything else you can think of.”

“Spike is rarely involved in an actual take-down, he’s our behind-the-scenes tech guy. More people would have it out for me, Sam, Jules, or Greg.” Ed said “And, Rian’s stalker completely trashed her house the other day.”

“Really?” The agent looked interested.

“Yes. We all helped pick it up. He broke everything he could, and blacked out Spike’s face on some of the photographs.” I interrupted.

Agent Auburn turned to watch Rian through the window, frowning. “Do I know her?”

“Her brother was Kristopher Azarov.” Sarge said.

“That explains it.”

“Okay Team.” Sarge said, as Agent Auburn made his goodbyes and left the room, “I don’t think we should tell Rian yet. It may spook her, and give her more to worry about. I say we wait until we are sure about what’s happening.”

The rest of us were quick to agree and Sarge dismissed us, allowing us to head to the locker rooms. The team changed out of uniform quicker than we had ever done before, as we were all eager to see Spike. Leah and I mused about the case.

“Jules. We are going to have to be so much more careful on cases if there’s someone gunning for us.”

“Well, it sounds like Auburn and his team are working on it, so maybe they’ll catch him faster.”

RIAN’S POV

In my opinion it took us way too long to get to the Hospital. It had been a few hours since Spike had been shot but no one wanted me driving, they all were saying “I was too jumpy” and “I was going to run too many red lights.” So instead I was sitting in the passenger seat of my car, as Jules drove us to the hospital, grumbling about how Sam better not damage her car. I, meanwhile, was bouncing in my seat, tapping my fingers on the armrest. As we pulled into a parking spot, I bolted from the car and speed-walked into the hospital, playing frogger in the parking lot, trying not to get hit.

“Michelangelo Scarlatti?” I asked reception.

“Ummm… 4th floor room 418, they’re just running some tests, you can go up and see him.”

“Thank you so much!” I said smiling at the blonde receptionist.

I walked to the bank of elevators, all full.

“Damn it.” I muttered, realizing that unless I wanted to wait, I was going to have to take the stairs.

When I made it to the fourth floor, it took me less than 10 seconds to find him because I practically ran into him. I stumbled back as he pushed the door open, and his arm automatically flew out to catch me. He looked bad, his left upper arm was covered in bandages, his shirt draped awkwardly over his shoulders; only one arm through the sleeve, but he still smiled when he saw it was me.

As soon as he put me back on my feet he looked sheepish, habitually reaching his right arm up, to scratch the back of his head.

“Spike. What the hell are you doing?” I asked, voice deceptively calm.

“Um… Going home?”

“Uh. No you’re not. Even I know that no one gets out of the hospital less than 4 hours after they’ve been shot.” I said, arms folded over my chest and my voice escalating as I continuted.

“Michelangelo Scarlatti!” A motherly nurse called, looking around the corner of a doorway down the hall. Spotting Spike and me, she made a beeline for us.

“You weren’t thinking of leaving without getting all your tests done were you?” She asked, putting him on the spot.

“No ma’am.” He said bashfully, scratching the back of his head again.

“You must be Rian.” She said, holding out her hand “I’m Michelle, I’m usually assigned to the SRU people that need a doctor’s attention. I get to patch them up, run all the tests and do their medical evals.”

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry but how did you know my name?”

“This one.” She said, pointing at Spike, “Likes to talk when he’s under. We gave him some painkillers when we cleaned the graze.”

“Man, I wish someone had taped that.” I said smiling weakly.

She must’ve noticed how worried I was because she put a reassuring hand on my shoulder,

“Don’t worry dear, as soon as he finishes his tests he can go home. He’ll be absolutely fine, the bullet didn’t do much damage.”

“Can we not talk about moments where I embarrass myself beyond belief?” Spike was saying, already, starting back towards his hospital room.

“Spike!”

We all turned to see the rest of Team One stepping out of the elevator.

“What the hell are you doing out of bed.” Ed said, giving Spike the look.

“All right! I get it!” Spike said, grumpily, finally going all the way into his room.

“Um. Do you mind?” I asked Michelle, motioning to the room Spike had entered.

“Not at all” she said smiling.

Michelle took some blood samples, wrote a prescription, and handed him a Ziploc bag full of gauze and bandages.

“You know the drill Scarlatti. Go easy, make sure it doesn’t get infected.” She gave him a look, then turning to me.

“I want you to stay at someone’s house tonight, make sure nothing bad happens and that you do what you’re supposed to.” She turned to me, whispering conspiratorially, “Make sure he does everything he’s supposed to, I don’t want to see you back here.” She said, smiling and leaving the room. Team One filed in after she had left, patting him on the back and making sure he was okay. After a few minutes of conversation, everyone making sure he was okay, and updating him on what Agent Auburn had said, Team One had left; but only after Jules had presented me with my keys.

“Come on.” I said. “I’ll drive you home.”

“What?”

“I’ll take you home.”

“You mean, to your house...right?”

“No, to your’s.”

“What? No. I’m still staying with you, what if that guy wants you alone?”

“You need to rest, and you can do that at your house, with your things.”

“No, I’m coming back with you.” He attempted to cross his arms over his chest, and winced slightly.

I sighed, giving in as I didn’t want to sit here arguing forever.

“Fine.” I helped Spike put his arms through his sleeves and we drove, to my house, in complete silence. I was still half in shock. What would I say? Hey I’m glad you didn’t get shot? I was worried? Don’t get into any more dangerous situations? Learn how to dodge bullets?

My hands started to shake again as we pulled up, now I was thinking about what would’ve happened if the bullet had on to the right. Still not talking, I made it all the way into my room before I broke down. I fell on my bed, tears welling up in my eyes. What would I have done if he had died today? I slid sideways, burying my face into my pillow. I vaguely heard my bedroom door open followed by footsteps and then I felt the bed sink as he sat next to me. I turned to see him settling down on his right side, avoiding pressing his arm against the bed. He awkwardly reached out and pulled me closer.

“No you don’t.” I said, my voice thicker than usual. I made him sit up, his back against the headboard. “I don’t want your arm to get hurt.”

“Don’t worry so much about me.” He said, rolling his eyes and pulling me closer. I rested my head against his chest,

“Don’t do that again.” I mumbled into his shirt.

“You know I can’t make that promise.”

“I know. But it makes me feel better.” He kissed my forehead and I could almost hear his smile. He rubbed my back, warmth radiating from where his fingers touched my back. Too soon, I succumbed to sleep, utterly exhausted.


	8. Career Day

RIAN’S POV

It had been a month and a half since Spike had left the hospital for the bullet graze. Things had mostly gone back to normal. My stalker had been dormant, and Spike and I had had our first major fight. 2 weeks after Spike left the hospital his mother had finished her moving and was spending just two more weeks here in Toronto before she flew to Italy and began her life in a small villa, near the rest of her family. I told Spike that he should move back into his own house, but he wanted to stay to make sure I was okay… and thats when the fight started…

***************************

“Your mom’s gone now, you can have the whole place to yourself.”

“It’s not about the house Rian, it’s about you.”

We were sitting on the couch, well, he was sitting on the couch in my living room, I was pacing in front of him; worrying about how fast we were moving. It’s not like he had proposed, but not even a month in and we were practically living together, isn’t that a bit fast? I wanted this to last, I wanted to marry him someday, when we were ready...but for now?

“I’m fine, I will be fine. I haven’t heard from him in quite a while, he probably got scared when the police started investigating. Everything’s fine now.”

“Everything is so-”

“What about you mom?” I cut him off, “ She probably misses you.”

“She’s fine!”

“She’s moving to Italy in just under two weeks, you’re not going to be able to see her everyday.”

“I don’t see her everyday now!”

“Do you know how that makes me feel?” I said, almost yelling now, “I feel like I came between your family.”

“She’s THRILLED.” He was yelling now, “She loves the fact that I have someone else in my life,, she’s ecstatic.”

“Well you should spend some time with her,”

Spike caught my arm as I was pacing by him, tugging me closer until I was standing between his legs. He hugged my waist, the side of his head pressed into my stomach. We were quiet for a minute, my hands automatically went to his head, running my fingers through his hair.

“What’s this really about Spike?” I asked softly, kneeling down so he didn’t have to look up at me.

“I don’t want to leave you.” He stated simply, his hand moving to cup my face, his thumb rubbing circles into my cheek.

“You aren’t leaving me,” I sighed, “and I’m not leaving you, you can come over all the time, but I think you should try to spend some time with your mom.”

I saw him relax and grinned triumphantly, knowing I had won. I kissed him quickly, still grinning and that was the beginning of our time apart.

Just for the record, that time apart lasted exactly two weeks. We talked all the time, and we saw eachother for dates after work, but we slept in separate houses. On the day Spike’s mom boarded her flight to Italy, we both said goodbye to her at the airport.

“Rian,” She said, hugging me, a broad smile across her face, “take care of my boy, okay?”

“Absolutely Mrs. Scarlatti.” She kissed me on the cheek before hugging Spike. I stepped away a bit, giving them some privacy as they said their goodbye’s. Eventually she gave him one last hug before marching off to security. Spike walked over to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders in a sideways hug.

“She’ll be okay, won’t she?” His voice sounded thick,

“She’s going to be fine” I assured him as we waved to her one last time. “Come on, pretty-boy, let’s go home.”

That night Spike slept at my place, and for the month since, we had slept in the same bed almost every night. He had a key to my place, and I now had a key to his, but we hadn’t gone farther than kissing, and it was beginning to annoy me. Knowing Spike he probably had either some really cheesy reason, or very practical reason. Either way, I didn’t care.

A month after Spike and I had said goodbye to his mom, it was career day and one of those rare days where we hadn’t stayed under the same roof the night before.

Spike had stayed at his house and I missed him. I woke up to Kelly Clarkson’s Dark Side, and ran through my routine of almost breaking my alarm clock, showering, blow drying my hair, grabbing my coffee and pouring the flavoring in, mocha this time. I had an extra 45, by design. I drove in the opposite direction, picking up coffee and breakfast for Team One. I finally arrived at school with 45 minutes to spare. The Principal had posted who would be presenting where based on how many kids had signed up to attend the presentation. My name was listed as being in the auditorium. Wow. That means Team One was the most popular presenter. I made my way to the main auditorium, climbing the steps to the stage. I placed the bags of food and coffee carafe on the heavy wooden table that was pushed off to the side, before making my way to the computer that ran the projector, warming both machines up.

I squeaked as someone wrapped their arms around me.

“SPIKE!” I yelled, turning and hitting him on the chest. “You scared me!” I whacked him again, knowing that since he was currently sporting the SRU uniform, complete with the bulletproof vest. He caught my hand and didn’t let go, giving me a quick kiss on the lips, then pulling me in for a hug.

“I missed you.” He whispered into my ear before pulling away. He wrapped an arm around my waist as I helped Ed set up their presentation.

“Go. Eat. I got breakfast. As a thank you.” I said, pointing and smiling as they instantly crowded around the table.

Jules came and sat in a chair next to me, chomping on her bagel.

“I feel as though we haven’t talked in a while.” She said between bites.

“You’ve been busy.” I stated, thinking back on the several hot calls they had received since the campaign shooting.

“So lets have a girls night, you, Mia, Kennedy, Shelley, Winnie, Leah and me. How about that new Club?”

“Sounds good to me. When?”

“I’ll send a mass text and see.”

Jules whipped out her phone at the same time that the first students started filing in.

“Ah, so these are your annoying students?” Ed asked rather loudly. Some of my students heard and snickered. I lightly shoved Ed

“Not so loudly.” I hissed.

When the bell rang for first period I started.

“Hello everybody. For those of you who haven’t had me I’m Mrs. Azarov and this is Team One, from the Strategic Response Unit. And know I will turn it over to Sergeant Greg Parker.”

I sat to the side of the stage, watching as Team One explained what they did. The entire presentation took a little under an hour, and then it was time for questions. I had given the students a list of questions not to ask, among them; have you ever shot anyone, and have you ever killed anyone, warning them that if they asked any of the questions on the list, there would be a detention in their future. There were some stupid questions that made the rest of the students laugh, but I think both Team One, and the students enjoyed the presentatiol.

Soon, all the questions had been asked and answered and the students had been released. I helped Team One pack up their presentation, and throw the breakfast trash out. Spike grabbed my hand as we walked to the SUV’s.

“Hey want to do dinner at my place tonight?” I asked, turning to look at him. “I’ll make fettuccine.” I said, basically bribing him to come over, not that he needed a bribe.

“I’d love to. We need to talk about some stuff.” his answer was almost instantaneous, once I had said what I was making for dinner. He pulled me to a stop, lagging behind the rest of the team. He leaned against my car, pulling me forwards and pressing his lips to mine. “I’ll be there at 7, as soon as my shift is over.”

“Okay, see you then.” I gave him another quick kiss before he and Team One left. I had been happy, but now I was panicking. Talk about what? Was he going to break up with me? Move to Italy to be with his mom?

I wandered back to my classroom, sighing as I realized I would be grading papers for the rest of the day. Because of the career presentations, regular classes were canceled, which means most of the boys were playing videogames back at their dorms after seeing one of the presentations. I sat down at my desk and opened my laptop, hooking the classroom speakers into. I opened safari and logged into Pandora, setting it on QuickMix.

If It Means A Lot To You by A Day To Remember was filtering through the speakers in my classroom when someone knocked on my door. I looked up from the pile of papers I had been staring down at to see Mia and Kennedy opening my classroom door.

“Hey did you get Jules’ text?” Mia asked, coming to sit on my desk.

“Hmmm?” I pull out my phone to find 4 missed text messages.

Jules: That new club? Friday? 10?

Mia: Cools! I’m bringing Sam!

Kennedy: Dean and I will be there!

Leah: I’ll find a date J

“Oh, yeah.”

I quickly typed out a reply.

I’ll ask Spike if he wants to come, but I’ll be there.

“Sorry, I was watching Team One’s presentation.” I rubbed my temples, the grades swimming before my eyes.

“We missed you at lunch today,” Kennedy said, leaning against the white board

“What-?” I looked down at my phone. The screen read 4:07, no wonder my stomach was rumbling.

“You’ve been grading all day?” Mia asked in incredulity “You are my new hero girl!”

“Crap.” I groaned, gathering all the ungraded papers up and stuffing them into my briefcase. “I have to go guys. See you tomorrow!”

“Good luck on your date.”

“How’d you know?”

“We know” they chorused smiling at me as I made my way to my car.

I completed my in-car-routine of bobbing my head and singing to the radio as I completed my drive home. I had left the Academy a little on the late side and as a result, got stuck in traffic.

It was almost quarter after five when I got home. I dumped my briefcase on my desk chair and hopped into the shower. I scrubbed myself with my coconut-lime body wash and herbal essence shampoo. I blow-dried my hair and curled the ends, pinning my bangs back so they were out of my face. I applied some eyeliner, mascara, and gold eye-shadow, finished with my preparations I headed to the kitchen to begin cooking. I salted some water and poured in the fettuccine. In a pan I sautéed peppers and onions, getting the cheese, cream, and milk out of the fridge. While the pasta was cooking and the vegetables were sizzling I grated the cheese.

A while later dinner was done, and nothing had taken my mind off of Spike’s ‘wanting to talk’. I had assumed Spike was bringing the wine, which had become our thing; I would supply the food, and he would supply the alcohol, so I couldn’t find anything else to do to distract me from my possibly devastating dinner tonight. I settled on setting the dining room table and got the wine glasses from the china cabinet, setting them above the silverware. I checked the clock; 6:45. I rummaged through my closet, my eyes finally landing on my light blue lace print dress. I tugged it on, and fixed my hair. I was looking myself over in the mirror when I heard the door open and close, followed by the unmistakable sound of my deadlock clicking into place.

“Spike?” I called.

“Where are you?” he called back.

I walked out to the kitchen. Spike was searching through the kitchen drawers.

He was wearing a white button down shirt and dark-wash jeans, and looked even sexier than usual, if that was possible.

“Babe? Do you know where the bottle opener is? It’s not where I usually find it.”

“Check the dishwasher,” I said, laughing as he found it exactly where I said it would be. He poured the wine,

“Hungry?” I asked,

“Absolutely.”

He handed me some plates and I dished up the pasta. We sat down at the table and just talked, me waiting for him to get to what he wanted to talk about. Eventually we moved to the living room couch. Spike placed his head in my lap, and I ran my fingers through his hair as he told me about his shift.

His brown eyes stared up at me, uncertainly. I could almost feel it coming, hanging over my like a bag of bricks, about to squash me. He sat up, moving towards me so we were face to face.

“So, we need to talk”

“Mmmhmmm, about what?”

“Well I’ve been thinking, and…” I waited, tense, as if my flight or fight was responding. “Are you okay?” He asked, looking at me pointedly.

“Yeah.” I tried to get my body to relax, but it didn’t seem to be listening.

“So, I think we should move in together.” 

I did a double take, “wait, what?”

“I think we should look for a place, together. My house is too big for me now, and I think we’d both feel comfortable if you didn’t live-” I shut him up with a kiss. When I pulled away his eyes were still closed, but they flickered open, looking at me warily.

“So.. is that a yes?”

“Of course, dummy.” I said, rolling my eyes. “I would LOVE to live with you.” He gave me a huge smile, leaning towards me, instinctively I leaned backwards a little bit before his lips caught mine. Searing them as if he had touched them with a hot poker. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him backwards so I was flat against the couch and he was leaning over me, using his arms to support himself.

I pulled away when I needed a breath, before peppering his lips with tiny kisses,

“I would love to live with you” I said, emphasizing each word with a kiss.

“Well I love you.” He said, smiling, I looked at him a huge grin breaking out across my face.

“I love you too.” He leaned forward, kissing me hard. He ran his tongue along my bottom lip and slipped his tongue into my mouth when I gasped in surprise. After a few moments, I pulled away, needing to breath. Spike didn’t even pause, continuing to kiss across my jaw and down my neck, eventually finding a spot that made me arch my body into his as he kissed it. With one hand he held my head steady as his lips found mine again. I ran my hands through his hair-BRING.

We both froze, it had only rung once and it had been weeks since I had received anything from him. Spike shot me a look,

“I’ll go look.”

He climbed off me and I watched as his back disappeared down the hall. It seemed like he was gone for forever, but I could hear the deadbolt unlock, the door open, close, and then the deadbolt was locked again. When he came back, his face was red, his hand was shaking, and there in his right hand was a cream colored envelope. He handed it to me, taking a seat next to me again. His hand going to my back, rubbing it comfortingly as my eyes found the words typed on the paper.

My last attempt failed. I will not repeat myself again. Michelangelo Scarlatti will die if you do not stay away from him. Do not test my patience.


	9. The Dance

RIAN’S POV

If I hadn’t been sitting down already I would’ve needed to. I wanted to cry, I was so frustrated, I was so angry. Why us? What did we ever do to him? Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Spike putting the note in a plastic bag.

“Gonna give it to Mendoza.”

“Damn right I am.” His face was hard. It was a face I had only seen a few times, and I always hoped I would never see it again.

“Move in.”

I did a double take, “What?”

“Tonight. Let’s just move in to my house until we can find one.”

I didn’t even have to think, I just agreed. His face softened at that before he stalked around my house, making sure all the windows and doors were locked and the blinds closed. I followed him into my room. I followed him, watching as he took out every suitcase and bag he could find, dumping drawers, one at a time. I almost laughed as he went to dump my underwear drawer into a suitcase, but blushed and shut the drawer as soon as he had opened it. He stood in front of the drawers for a minute, giving me the time to walk up behind him. I slid my hands up to his shoulders pulling him backwards, away from the dresser.

“Spike…”

“I feel like I’m useless. I can’t even protect my girlfriend.”

“Yes you can. Nothing’s happened to me, I’m right here.” I gently pushed him back onto the bed, so he was sitting down. I put one knee on the bed next to him hip, straddling his leg so I could put our foreheads together.

“I’m right here,” I repeated

“I can see that,” he said, a slight smile breaking through his tense facade, “relax”. I started at his temples, kissing every inch of his face I could reach, feeling the muscles relax under my lips. I ignored his attempts to kiss me properly, continuing my onslaught down his jaw and onto his neck as all thoughts of the stalker drifted to the backs of our mind.

“Wakey, wakey.” a voice whispered in my ear. I refused to open my eyes, enjoying the feeling of his fingers trailing up my spine and down across my arm. “Baabbbeee,” he said, the sheets shifting as he moved closer. He kissed me shoulder as I grudgingly opened my eyes.

“Goodmorning.” He said, smirking.

“mmmmhhhh.”

“Breakfast?” he asked, looking hopeful.

“Yeah. yeah...mmhmhmhmhmh…” He kissed my shoulder again, succeeding in waking me up more.

I twisted so I was laying on my back, pulling the sheets up higher over my body. Spike propped himself up on his right elbow. I lifted my hand, tracing the scar on his left arm where the bullet had grazed him.

“Breakfast?” he asked again,

“Yeah, I’m getting up.” He kissed me, as if it was a reward for agreed to feed him. “but I won’t get up if you keep doing that.”

“What...this?” he asked, kissing me again.

“Yeah, that.” I breathed, smiling as he pulled away. “Okay, I’m up. I’m up.”

I stole the sheets, wrapping them around myself as I slid out of bed, elliciting a “Hey!” from Spike as I left him naked on the bed.

I laughed, “go get dressed.” He got up and I turned my back on him, moving to the dresser and retrieving my favorite blue bra. I slid on a pair of women’s boxers before going on a hunt for one of Spike’s T-shirts. I turned around, sneaking across the room to wrap my arms around his still shirtless waist; at least now he had some pants on. I grabbed the shirt he had in his hands, slipping out of his hands as he whirled around trying to catch me. I slid it on, before he had a chance to argue and kissed him on the cheek.

“Thanks for the shirt babe.”

He sighed, following me out of the bedroom and down to the kitchen.

“So whats for breakfast?” He asked, taking a seat at the bar and watching me as I opened the fridge, looking for something. My eyes landed on the carton of eggs and I whirled around to face Spike.

“Omelettes?”

“Yum.”

“Aren’t you cold?” I asked, getting out the eggs, peppers, onions, ham, and cheese, referring to the fact that Spike was still shirtless. He flexed his muscles, causing me to blush as he smirked.

“Nah, I think I’m okay.” 

“Then come here and help me cut up some vegetables.”

“Yes ma’am.”

I handed him a knife and a cutting board, washing the peppers before handing them over.

He diced up our toppings before I sauteed them all in the pan. Spike grated half the cheese block into the pan when I wasn’t looking; drenching the omelette in cheese. I rolled my eyes when I saw the pile of cheese, moving it around so the omelette was completely covered in it. Spike came up behind me, distracting me as we waited for the cheese to melt. I cut the omelette in half, giving Spike the half with the most cheese. We ate at the bar, my laptop in front of us; looking for houses.

“I still want you to come live with me for the time being.” He said, as we looked at houses.

“Fine with me,” I replied, stealing a bite of his half of the omelette as he typed.

He closed the laptop, devouring the rest of his omelette.

“I’ll call Sam, see if he has any realtor advice. In the mean time...want to start packing?”

I rolled my eyes, “already?”

Spike’s face tensed up. “I’m not kidding Rian. I want you safe, and I love you, so, you living with me is just a side benefit.”

I did a double take, “You… love me?”

He blushed, pulling away from me. “Uh, yeah. I.. I do.”

I stared at him, still half in shock until he started fidgeting and I realized I hadn’t said it back.

“I.. I love you too.” I said just as he pushed away from the bar, standing up.

He turned back to face me a grin slowly making its way across his face. In a flash he was in front of me.

“Really?” he asked quietly

“Uh, yeah…” I said, mimicking him, “really.”

I kissed him, feeling him smirk against my lips.

“Mmmhhhmmm…” He groaned, pulling away. “Come on, let’s go pack.”

That afternoon we contacted a realtor, a week later I put my house on the market, gradually moving my stuff either to a storage locker I had rented, or to Spike’s house. Two weeks later my house was sold to a nice young family and I was living comfortably at Spike’s; where he gave me half of his closet and half of his dresser, half of his house, and all of his heart. In the six months that passed Spike and I were living as the perfect in love couple. I worried about him, and day by day, he worried less and less about me. After a week and a half of heavy shifts, and seeing next to none of eachother Spike and I arranged a date night. Little did I know that I was going to be stopped from seeing him.

“Quiet. Quiet. QUIET!” I yelled over my rowdy senior class. “I hate to break it to you lads, but just because the AP Tests are over, does not mean that you are done with this class.”

I was angry, hot, and impatient. The principal had just informed me that I was needed to chaperone the senior prom tonight. One of the dorm supervisors was sick and I was on the short list. I had had to cancel my plans with Spike, but Mia and Kennedy surprised me by saying that they had already signed up to chaperone, along with Sam and Dean, which meant I wouldn’t be all alone. I was instructed to report to the schools gymnasium, where the chaperones and the dance committee, would decorate the room, at 5. School let out early in order to let people get ready for the dance, and to give the decorating committee enought time to decorate. I drove home, grabbing all the make-up and hair supplies Kennedy and Mia had asked me to pick-up. In their words ‘If we are going to waste an evening supervising a bunch of immature teens, we are going to look good while doing it.’ I grabbed my black and silver dress while I was at home and texted Mia, asking if I could borrow a pair of black heels.

I drove to Mia’s first, and then to Kennedy’s, picking them up at their respective apartments. Mia, sitting shot-gun rolled down the windows and blasted the radio, singing along to the newest Maroon 5 song.

“And when the daylight comes I’ll have to go!” They chorused loudly. I smiled and shook my head at their antics, sliding my sunglasses over my eyes as I pulled onto the highway.

We finally pulled into the school parking lot a few minutes before five. Putting our dresses, make-up and things in Mia’s classroom, we headed towards the ballroom. When we arrived, the stage and DJ booth were already set up. The theme was masquerade carnival, so we started working hanging fabric from the ceiling, so it looked like the inside of a carnival tent. Everything was black, silver, gold, and red, and mirrors were hung and placed around the room. The doors to the gardens outside the ballroom were open and fairy lights had been hung around the plants. The fairy lights worked their way inside and, as the regular lights were covered by the fabric, the fairy lights, plus some colored lights mounted on the stage, lit the room. I was on the ladder, hanging one of the huge pieces of fabric from the ceiling, when I looked down, biting my lip in envy, watching Mia and Kennedy flirting with Dean and Sam instead of making sure my ladder was steady. Team One had been on long shifts over the past two weeks, but they were getting a long weekend soon, and Spike wanted to go on a trip. I felt like I hadn’t really seen him in forever. So I was looking forwards to next weekend. We were supposed to have a date night tonight, but of course, I had had to cancel. I sighed, turning back to finish my decorations. The small dance committee, plus the 15 chaperones managed to decorate the entire room just in time for the early birds to arrive.

Because we started too late, the chaperones had to take turns changing into their dance clothes. The guys, changed first, and then the five women chaperones had their turns. Mia, Kennedy, Bethany, a German Teacher, Ruby, the Latin teacher, and I went to the girl’s locker room to get changed. Mia looked great in her pink dress, and Kennedy looked great in her dark blue dress. I quickly applied foundation and grudgingly let Mia apply what she called “smoky eye-shadow”. I rolled my eyes, not particularly caring what she called it, but wanting to get out of here to get home to Spike. We didn’t have that much time, so I pulled on my dress quickly, slid on the heels I had borrowed from Mia, and rejoined the party. While, the kids all had masks, the administration did not want the chaperones to wear masks, so that the kids knew who they were. Mia and Kennedy ‘supervised’ the dance floor with Sam and Dean while I was stuck watching from the sidelines.

I had gotten up to grab a glass of water when I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I turned to find Kevin Jackson staring at me.

“I…I.. I was wondering if… you wanted to dance with me?”

“Sorry Kevin, I’m not really in the mood. Ask Ruby. She has a crush on you anyways.” I said smiling. It was true, I was sulking, and I knew it, but I didn’t want to fix it. I sat down in my chair and watched as Kevin and Ruby started to dance as a slow song came on. A few songs after that, I finished my water and executed a perfect toss into the nearest trashcan. I was looking around making sure no one was trying to burn down the building or anything. To my disappointment, I found no criminals; only innocent teenagers trying to enjoy their prom. I was about to go outside to sniff out more trouble makers when a hand grabbed my arm. I turned to yell at whoever it was, only to find Spike smiling at me. He was dressed like the rest of the male faculty: Black slacks, black button down, much more casual than the suits the high-schoolers were sporting.

I gaped for a minute before coming to my senses.

“You clean up well.” I said, straightening his shirt collar and surreptitiously running my fingers down his chest.

“Ditto,” he said, smiling. “Do you want to dance?” he asked, smirking at me, and gesturing towards the teenaged filled dance-floor..

“I’d love to.” I said, finding a spot at the edge of the dance floor. The prom classic, I’ll Be, by Edwin McCain came on. I smiled as Spike started to look increasingly uncomfortable. The SRU guys weren’t known for their sentimentality. His hands were resting on my waist, and I had my arms around his neck; imitating the other teenaged boys with their dates

“How’d you know?” I asked. I hadn’t told him why I’d been held back, just that the principal needed me.

“One of your friends, Mia, I think, may or may not have texted Jules, and Jules might have mentioned the dance and the chaperone dress code.”

“I’ll have to thank them later.” I murmured, resting my head against his chest.

We danced for about a song, but when one of the pop-ier, tunes came on I grinned,

“Come on, I can’t do this either,” I joked.

Apparently, Mia and Kennedy got tired of dancing and made their way towards us.

“Mia, Sam, Kennedy, Dean, this is Sam.” I said, gesturing to each person in turn.

Spike shook everyone’s hand

“Nice to meet you.” He said smiling. “I’ve heard so much about you from Rian.”

“All good I hope.” Mia asked, glancing at me.

“All good,” he said, reassuringly, wrapping an arm around my waist.

We talked for a while and then Mia and Kennedy were called away to deal with some chaperoning duties.

“Want to dance again?” Spike asked, holding out his hand as a slow song came on. I took his hand and we danced for a few more songs.

Too soon the dance was closing. The chaperones had to wait until all the kids were gone. The dance take-down would happen on Monday, so at least we didn’t have to clean up.

“How’d you get here?” I asked Spike as we were walking through the doors with Mia Sam, Dean, and Kennedy.

“Ed gave me a ride. I figured you drove here and I could get a ride back?”

“Ed gave you a ride? Nice of him.”

“He bitched about me being upset for the whole day, so…but about that ride.” He said joking.

“Nice to meet you Spike,” Sam said, patting Spike on the back once, before all four of them headed off to Sam and Dean’s respective cars.

“See you Monday!” I called at their retreating backs.

When we were finally alone, Spike took my hand, practically dragging me to where my car was parked under the street light directly in front of us. Spike practically shoved me against the driver’s side of the car, kissing me passionately and stealing my breath. When he finally pulled away we were both panting.

“damn,” he muttered, not moving an inch away from me,

“Were you-”

“Yeah, I was waiting all day to do that.” He confirmed, interrupting me and grinning. “and boy was it worth it,”

I playfully shoved him away, turning around to unlock the door behind me. He started to move to the other side of the car when I heard a soft thud, and a grunt. I turned just in time to see Spike hit the ground. The lights in the parking lot faintly illuminated my boyfriend, kneeling on the ground….What was..?

A scream pierced the air, it must’ve been me, as I fell to the ground just in time to catch his head before it hit the pavement. The parking lot light directly over us illuminated a wet spot that was steadily growing bigger. I touched it and my fingers came away red. I fumbled to apply pressure to the wound I couldn’t really see; the car blocking a lot of the light, and his black shirt making it even harder to find the source of the blood. Mia must’ve heard my scream because soon she was there. Time seemed to go too fast. He was losing too much blood, the ambulance wasn’t here. I couldn’t quite understand why the ambulance wasn’t here yet. I think Mia dialed 9-1-1, but it seemed like an hour ago. 

“Spike. Spike. Stay with me.” I almost yelled at him, watching his eyes flutter.

I wasn’t sure if this was right, but from the cop shows I watched I remembered something about keeping them awake.

“Spike! Stay with me. Come on, look at me.”

His breathing was raspy, and he was trying to say something.

His hand reached up, brushing my hair away from my face, before falling limp at his side again, his breathing got worse; a horrible rasping noise.

“No! Spike! Spike! Look at me!”

I applied more pressure to where the blood was seeping from. It took too long for the ambulance to arrive, and longer still for them to get to where he was lying on the ground. Someone had to pry me away so the paramedics could get to him.

I screamed at Spike that he better not leave me, as they lifted him onto a gurney, rolling him to the ambulance. I tried to get into the ambulance, but they wouldn’t let me. I was yelling at Spike that I would see him soon as the paramedics slammed the doors, speeding off. The next thing I knew several squad cars appeared and I was being asked to give a statement. I think Mia called Jules, because as I stammered through my statement Team One arrived. Flashing their badges at the officers who had set up the crime scene tape perimeter. Once my statement was finally judged to be complete by the officer in charge, and only after Ed, Greg, and Sam had yelled at a few officers I was allowed to leave. Someone helped me into the back of a car; Jules was sitting next to me, saying words of encouragement, ensuring me that everything would be fine. The drive to the hospital took ages, but when we finally got there I was out of the car before Sam had pulled to a full stop.

I headed straight for the reception desk, the blonde girl was no longer there. Instead, a nice-looking brunette was staring at me in horror.

“Are you all right?” She said reaching for a phone.

I looked down at myself, realizing that I was covered in blood.

“It’s not mine. I’m looking for Scarlatti? “

“Hmmmm…..Michelangelo Scarlatti?”

“Yes.”

“He just went into surgery. Are you family?”

“I’m close enough.”

“Are you family?”

“She’s close enough” A voice cut in from behind me. I turned to find Ed and the rest of the SRU team behind me. Ed was brandishing his SRU badge at the nurse.

“You can wait in there,” she said gesturing to a room around the corner “He’s in surgery right now so it’s going to be a while.” She reiterated for Team One’s benefit, giving us a sad look.

“Ed…” my voice broke on his name.

“Come on Rian.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and guided me into the waiting room.

I probably should be doing something, but for some reason all I could bring myself to do was sit there. The minutes passed and no one else came. I looked at the clock; only five minutes had passed since we entered the waiting room. This was my fault. If he hadn’t come to see me, he wouldn’t be fighting for his life. I think I heard Ed make a few phone calls, but all I was doing was looking. Looking for someone who could give me some answers. I don’t know how much time had passed but suddenly a policeman was in front of me, asking me something.

“I’m sorry, officer. Could you repeat that?”

“Ma’am, I’m sorry to ask this, but I really need you to tell me what happened.”

I explained that an officer had already taken my statement, but he insisted, much to Ed’s chagrin. I explained, once again, that I didn’t see anything, or hear the gunshot.

“Ma’am I’m going to need you clothes.” This request was new.

“Excuse me?”

“Rian,” Ed said butting in, gesturing to my dress. I looked down to see that my hands and dress were covered in blood. Spike’s blood. I had totally forgotten that I was covered in blood.

“Is… Is there a bathroom with a shower? And I don’t have extra clothes.” I stated softly, surveying my hands, lower arms and knees.

The officer handed me an empty evidence bag and led me to the nurse’s locker room. I stripped, shoving the dress and the shoes into the empty bag. I laid my underwear on a bench near the showers as I stepped under the water. I didn’t hear the door open, but I heard Jules’ voice over the sound of the shower.

“Ri?” Her voice was thick; she’d been crying

“Yeah?”

“I’m leaving some clothes and a towel here. Okay?”

“Yeah.”

I scrubbed and scrubbed; trying to get all the blood off. Even when it had visibly left my skin, I could still feel it and no amount of scrubbing would elleviate it. I stumbled out of the shower; my skin bright red. I dried myself off, dressing quickly I rejoined the group outside. I fell onto the couch, wrapping my arms around myself, and letting the tears fall down my cheeks. If I had done what he had asked of me, Spike wouldn’t be here; wouldn’t be dying. But then someone was sitting next to me, wrapping their arms around me and trying to get me to move. I turned to see Jules with tears in her eyes. I turned into her, crying into her shoulder as we waited. I could hear the rest of the Team talking to the police officer.

“I think it was him.” I confessed to Jules, once I had calmed down slightly. Jules stiffened when I said that, and eventually extricated herself so she could go join the gaggle around the officer.

“Rian thinks it was her stalker.” Jules said.

The officer flipped through his notes in his little black notebook.

“The one that has been leaving letters? Right. We’ll keep it in mind. Thank you.”

He said, turning to walk back into the hospital’s main lobby.

Minutes turned into hours and hours turned into the next day. It was very early Saturday morning when a tired-looking doctor in greenish-blue scrubs walked in.

“Michelangelo Scarlatti?”

Everyone’s head snapped up, but no one made a move to get up. Shakily I stood up, my legs sore from sitting still for so long.

“How is he?” I asked, my voice raspy.

The tension in the air was palpable; I could cut it with a knife if I wanted to.

“Mr. Scarlatti is going to be fine.”

I didn’t realize I wasn’t breathing until I let out a big breath at those words.

“If the bullet had been 3 inches to the right we wouldn’t be here, but we managed to patch him up and he’s in the ICU recovering. You can visit him in a few more hours.”

“Thank you so much,” I said, almost crying from happiness. I was the first to shake his hand, but the rest of Team One was not far behind me.

Mia, Sam, Dean, and Kennedy went home after the doctor had brought the good news, followed shortly by Greg, Sam, Jules and Leah. Ed and I stayed, although Jules had tried her best to convince me to go home. About two and a half hours after everyone had left Ed and I were allowed into Spike’s room. He had been moved from the ICU into a small private room with an armed guard posted outside.

He looked broken, as he laid on the bed, wires and tubes sticking out of him and connected to the veritable army of machines drawn up around his bed. He was sleeping, and according to the nurse he could be sleeping as long as his brain needed him to. I drew an uncomfortable looking chair up to his bed and grasped his hand, just sitting with him.

I must’ve fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion at some point because the next thing I knew, someone was squeezing my hand. I groggily opened my eyes to find Spike’s brown eyes staring at me. I instantly sat up.

“Are you okay, how are you feeling?”

“Water.” He groaned. I grabbed the pitcher on the side table and poured him a cup. He lifted a hand to bring the straw to his lips, the wires moving with him.

I ran my hand over his forehead and through his hair.

“How are you feeling?” I asked once he was done.

“Horrible.”

I pressed the button for the nurse, stepping outside to call the rest of the Team as the nurse checked up on him. When I stepped back inside, he smiled weakly before fading back into sleep.

“He’s going to need a lot of sleep.” The nurse told me quietly. “We aren’t sure how long it will take until he can have actual conversations.”

And she was right. A week went by and I spent that week either at work or the hospital, but finally, one day I walked in and he was awake, sitting up and watching something on TV. His face lit up when he saw me, a huge smile breaking out across his face.

“How are you?”

“I’m fine. They have me on a lot of painkillers, but I’ll survive. I’ll need PT, but I’ll be back in no time.”

I brushed his hair back, kissing him on his forehead.

“I’m not breakable,” he muttered, reaching up and bringing my face back to his. His kisses were sweet, but I didn’t want him to see the utter terror that had gripped me this last week.

“Sure about that pretty boy?” I asked, teasing him.

It was them that Greg and Sam entered the room.

“Rian, back again?”

“Umm..”

“Rian?” I looked back at Spike to find him surveying me weakly,

“Well if you think that I would leave you alone, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Rian.” Sam, put an arm around my shoulders. “We need to have a word with Spike and you need to go home and get some rest.”

“Fine, But I’ll be back later, and there’s nothing you can do that would stop me from coming.” Lying to his face.

The moment I had walked in to see him up and awake I had made up my mind. I was leaving him; taking him out of the line of fire. He might hate me, but it would be worth it if he was safe. I don’t know what I had been doing this week, I guess I just needed to make sure he would be okay.

I gave him a quick kiss before taking the elevator down to the first floor. I found Jules there, waiting to go up in the elevator.

“How are you feeling?” she asked as I stepped out.

“A lot better now that I know he’s going to be okay.”

“Do you really think it was your stalker who shot him?”

“Yes. And he finally gets what he wanted.”

“What?”

“I’m going to stay away from Spike. He’ll be so much safer if I just stay away from him.”

“Rian, that’s not going to help.”

“Yes, it’ll keep him safe.”

“You can’t be sure it was him.”

“But who else could it be?”

That stumped her.

“I’m not sure,” she answered carefully, “But staying away from Spike is only giving in to what your stalker wants.”

“But it keeps him safe. I can’t live through another version of last night. What if next time the bullet it three inches to the right?”

Jules apparently decided to revisit the topic later, because she pressed the elevator button again, and waved goodbye, giving me a hug.

“Call me if you need anything.” Jules said as we went our separate ways.

“I will. Thanks for everything.”

It was close to 7 by the time I got home. I unlocked the front door. As I stepped on the mat I felt something weird under my foot. Looking down I saw a large yellow envelope, under my foot. I brought it inside, locking the front door behind me, I set my keys on the kitchen counter and opened the envelope, my hand shaking, already knowing what was inside. Out fell several sheet of paper, face down. I flipped them over and dropped them back on the counter. Pictures of me, leaning over Spike’s body, trying to stop the bleeding, realizing he had been shot, being pulled away by a policeman. He had taken pictures of the mess he had created.

The last sheet of paper didn’t have a picture on it. Instead 3 words were typed across the page.

I told you.


	10. Taking Credit

RIAN’S POV

I dropped the envelope on the counter like it had burned me; letting it’s contents spill from my fingers and end up all over the floor. It’s been a week, a whole week and now…? I must’ve dialed Greg Parker, because I heard his voice over my phone.

“Yeah, Rian.”

“………..” I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.

“Rian?” I could hear his voice taking on a tinge of worry.

“Sarge…?” My voice was weak

“Rian are you okay?”

“I... It was him.. I.”

My brain knew exactly what I wanted to say, but my mouth couldn’t form the words.

I could hear other voices in the background, he must still be at the hospital.

“Rian?” Spike’s voice echoed over my cell phone, tired and worry clouding it

“Y-Yeah?”

I leaned against the fridge for support, until my legs gave out and I slowly slid down it so I was sitting on the floor.

“What wrong” He asked.

“H-H-He shot you.” My voice was incredulous.

“Who did babe?” His voice was shocked.

“H-H…”

“Sarge, can you… there…. all right?” Spike’s words flitted in and out, but I couldn’t concentrate on the words.

I pulled my legs up against my chest and rested my chin on my knees, just staring at the photographs, which were spread on the floor in front of me.

GREG PARKER’S POV

Spike looked up at me.

“Sarge, can you go check on her? Please? Just go there and make sure she’s all right?” His eye’s were starting to droop again, as the morphine took effect

“Sure. I can do that. You two just stay here.”

“Don’t worry Sarge. I’ll keep an eye on him until shift.” Sam said, taking a seat in the armchair next to Spike’s bed.

“Can you do me a favor though Sam? Can you call Jules and send her to Rian’s house?”

“Sure.” He said, pulling out his cell phone.

Ed called me while I was driving to Rian’s house.

“Hey boss. I just got word from HQ, they’re putting us on leave for a few days, so they have time to investigate.”

“Ok.”

“Oh, and they wanted me to pass on a message. They said that as soon as Team One is back on shift, you are expected to interview temporary replacements for Spike’s position.”

“Damn it.” I muttered, running a hand over my eyes as I came to a stop at a red light a few blocks from Spike and Rian’s house. “Yeah, ok. Are you going back to the hospital?”

“Yeah, I’m going to go back later. Right now, I’m going to get some rest.”

“Ok Ed. See you later.” I hung up just as the light turned green.

I pulled up in front of Rian’s house, and walking through the front door, found her in the kitchen. She was sitting on the ground, surrounded by photographs, her knees drawn up to her chest, an empty look on her face. One I had seen before; shock.

“Rian?” I knelt down so I has just a little bit above her eye level. “Can you hear me?”

She was unresponsive. I picked her up, she didn’t weigh anything, and carried her to her bathroom.

“Why don’t you take a shower bud. I’m going to call the officer assigned to your case.”

She nodded slowly, shutting the door behind her. I made my way back to the kitchen, picking up the photos that had scattered all over the floor. There must have been over 20. Most of which looked to have been taken right around the time Spike was shot.

I pulled out my cell phone again, calling HQ

A voice I recognized picked up, she was usually Team 3’s dispatcher. “Hey Cassie.”

“Oh hey Sergeant Parker.” She said, sounded tired. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m hoping you could connect me with an Officer Mendoza?”

“Sure, just give me one second.” I heard her fingers tapping on the keys for a few seconds. “Got it. Do you want me to connect you directly?”

“Sure, that’s fine.”

Seconds later the line was ringing.

“Mendoza.”

“Hi Officer. This is Sergeant Greg Parker, from the SRU.”

“Ah, yes. Sergeant. How can I help you?”

“Rian got another envelope from her stalker. It appears as though he, or she, is taking credit for Constable Scarlatti’s incident.”

“Really?” Mendoza’s voice sounded more interested. “Do you mind if I head over there? I’m not that far away.”

“Sure. Rian’s in the shower, but I’ll be here.”

“Ok, see you in a few Sergeant.”

I hung up the phone, debating about whether to call Dean or not, and eventually deciding against it. The doorbell rang a few minutes after I had finished my conversation with Mendoza. I frowned for a second; he was here already? I looked through the peephole, smiling slightly as I saw who it was.

“Hey boss!” came Jules’ happy voice, as I opened Rian’s front door.

“Hey Jules. Did you get any sleep?”

“Yeah, I snatched a few hours and a shower.”

Rian must’ve been sitting there for a while before she called me. “I’m glad.”

“How is she?”

“She’s in the shower right now, I think it all just piled up and…”

“Yeah” Jules interrupted, “I know. She’s had a rough two years. First Kristopher, and now this sick person.”

“Officer Mendoza is on his way here.” I told her. We both turned to look in the direction of Rian’s room as we heard the shower stop.

“Ok.” Jules reached into the cloth bag she had brought with her, pulling out chocolate, DVD’s, and a bunch of magazines.

“I’m going to go set up shop in her room okay?”

“Sure” I said, “Thanks for doing this Jules.”

“No need to thank me, she’s my best friend. I would do anything for her.”

I smiled at her before she headed into Rian’s room. Their voices drifted out of the room, before Jules closed the door behind her. I had just settled into the armchair in the living room when the doorbell rang again. I heaved myself out of the armchair and went to answer the door.

“Officer Mendoza, please, come in.” I said standing aside, holding the door open.

“Hello Sergeant.” He said holding out his hand.

I shook it, “Is something the matter?” I asked, my profiling instincts kicking in as I noticed the troubled expression on his face.

“I’m not entirely sure.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“Well someone hacked into the police database this afternoon, shortly after you called me.”

“What? I thought that was practically impossible”

“So did we.” He said, face worried, “but we were apparently wrong.”

“What happened?”

“Some notes, and pictures from the Spike’s incident went missing, and a few other random things. Some connected to your old cases.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, now here’s the weird part. The code he used to hack us has been used before.”

“What?”

“Yeah, in several of your old cases, as well as a few of our hacking cases. It’s sophisticated code. No one knows where this guy came from.”

“Which cases of ours?”

Mendoza looked down at his notes.

“The bank robbery with Ms. Azarov for one, a bomb threat, the shooting at the museum, and a hostage crisis at the court house.”

“That’s too many to be purely coincidence.”

“You’re telling me. There’s something connecting all these cases, but we can’t seem to figure out what it is.”

“Spike, is our tech guy. Maybe we should take a field trip.”

RIAN’S POV

When I stepped out from my shower, clean and dressed in sweats and a t-shirt, Jules was sitting on my bed just starting Pride and Prejudice.

“Hey bud.” She said, patting the bed beside her, and plopping down a bad of tortilla chips and a bowl of mango salsa, next to a bag of Hershey Kisses.

“Hey.” I pulled on one of Spike’s shirts and my comfiest sweatpants; plopping down on the bed next to Jules.

“You okay Ri?”

“No.”

The moment I had come to my senses under the hot shower; I had made up my mind. I was leaving him; taking him out of the line of fire. He might hate me, but it would be worth it if he was safe. I don’t know what I had been doing this week, I guess I just needed to make sure he would be okay.

“Do you really think it was your stalker who shot him?”

“Yeah, that’s what was in the envelope.” I said, curling up next to her and opening one of the bags of chocolate. “And he finally gets what he wanted.”

“What?”

“I’m going to stay away from Spike. He’ll be so much safer if I just stay away from him.”

“Rian, that’s not a solution.”

“Yes, it’ll keep him safe for now, until someone stops him.”

“You can’t be sure it was him.”

“But who else could it be? He just happened to be there taking pictures? I don’t think so”

That stumped her.

“I’m not sure,” she answered carefully, “But staying away from Spike is only giving in to what your stalker wants.”

“But it keeps him safe. I can’t live through another version of last night. What if next time the bullet it three inches to the right?”

Jules apparently decided to revisit the topic later, because she pressed the remote, and started the movie.

We started the movie and I made it up to the scene where Darcy confesses his love and Elizabeth turns him down.

I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep, until I opened my eyes and looked at the clock. It was 7:00…. AM.

I sat bolt upright as I realized how long I had slept. Crap. I listened for any noise, but there was nothing. Jules and Greg had left a note on my fridge.

Rian-

We didn’t want to wake you, you needed some sleep. You probably won’t wake up until tomorrow, but we are going to Spike’s tomorrow anyway. If you could stop by sometime, we need to talk.

I grabbed an apple and some peanut butter and ate my breakfast in front of a Bones episode, mulling over what they could possibly want to talk to me about. Too lazy to do anything special I pulled on a pair of my comfy jeans and a blue T-shirt sporting the Academy’s logo. I texted Greg and Jules, letting them know that I was going to the hospital. I listened to the radio as I drove, making the 45 minute trip in a record 36 minutes, seeing as it was a Sunday and there was absolutely no traffic on the highway. Parking on the sixth floor of the parking garage, I walked down to the hospital’s entrance, and then back up to the fourth floor; room number 496.

Spike’s room was far from empty when I arrived. In fact, it was almost full as Greg, Sam, Jules, Ed, Leah, Winnie, Officer Mendoza, and his partner were either sitting in borrowed chairs or standing around the room. I looked in through the small window set in the door seeing Spike and Jules talking very seriously. Jules was probably selling me out about what I had told her last night. How I was in love with him, and that’s why I had to let him go.

Seconds later my thoughts were confirmed as Spike looked up at Greg with something akin to annoyance in his eyes and I ducked back out of sight. I texted Greg and Jules, telling them that I was downstairs; waiting to talk.

Looking back through the window I saw Jules roll her eyes at the text, I looked back at Spike, expecting to see Sam still in his line of sight, but Sam had moved and now Spike was glaring straight at me. I lowered my eyes, abashed, and slowly opened the door, walking in quietly.

“Guys do you mind just waiting out in the hall for a moment. I need to talk to Rian.” Spike said, his voice dangerously low

I stepped aside to let everyone out into the hall.

“Close the door please Rian,” He asked calmly.

I obliged, leaning against the door, staring at him from across the room.

“Come here,”

I shook my head, knowing that if I moved, I would lose my resolve.

He made a move to stand.

“Spike!”

He continued to try to get up

“Spike, lay back down!”

He wasn’t listening to me. I groaned in frustration, crossing the room in a matter of seconds, and pushing him gently back onto the bed.

“You’re an idiot Spike. You know you shouldn’t be trying to walk yet.” I said, practically yelling at him, “You’re going to tear your stitches.”. But instead of an answer, he just patted the empty space next to him. I sat down on the edge of the bed, avoiding eye contact and deciding to stare at his bandages instead

“Jules told me what you said to her last night.” I fought the urge to look at him, but I lost the fight and my eyes drifted upwards, finding his brown ones trained on me. “Do you honestly feel like that’s the best option?”

“Yes.” I said, “I want to keep you safe, and this seems the most reasonable way to do it.”

“Well then I’m okay with being in danger.” He frowned

“Well then,” I said, mimicking him “You’re not as smart as I thought you were.”

“I love you Rian. We can make this work.”

“I love you too Spike, which is why I’m moving out.”

“You’re just running away.” He was yelling now, I could see his eyes were wet.

I was holding back tears too, “Yeah. I guess I am.”

“No. No! You can’t do this to me.”

“I’m doing it fo-”

“Bullshit!” He yelled, “Bullshit. I love you Rian. And I’m not about to let some crazy person take that away from us. We can do this together, alone we will be easier to take down. Please, please. You say you love me too, so if that’s true, stay with me. Ri…”

He stared at me, his eyes pleading with me. I slowly stood up, step by step, making my way across the room. I heard a sob behind me and the tears started running down my cheeks. I paused hand on the doorknob before finally making up my mind. I lowered the shade that covered the window, blocking us from view. I turned around to see Spike, head in hands, silently shaking. I sat down next to him, wrapping my arms around him. He sniffled, looking up; relief evident in his eyes when he saw it was me. He hugged me back, wrapping me in his cords as well.

He pulled back, his palms cupping my face as his thumbs dried my tears.

He pressed his forehead against mine

“Were you going to leave me?” He asked,

“I don’t think I ever could.”

He smiled softly, closing the distance between us and kissing me chastely. Ever careful of him, I held back, making sure he wouldn’t rip his stitches.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. Are you over your insanity?”

I smiled at that. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

I leaned forwards, pressing my lips to his. He responded instantly, bringing his free arm up to tilt my chin so he could kiss me better. When we finally broke apart, he had a slightly dazed expression on his face. “I’ve been waiting for one of those all week.” he joked, lying back against the pillows but not releasing my hand.

“I love you too Spike.” I said,

“Well now that we’ve gotten that sorted out… YOU CAN COME BACK IN NOW!” he shouted to the people that were in the hall. I moved from the bed to the chair next to it. Grabbing Spike’s left hand; the one that was attached to an IV next to his bed, I leaned forwards, so our hands were closer to him than me.

Jules shot us a smile as she walked in, and I grinned back at her, but my smile fell as Sergeant Parker and Officer Mendoza closed the door behind them.

“Rian, we have some information about the person that shot Spike.”

“Good. Do we know who it is?”

“Yes and No.” Officer Mendoza drew up a chair, sitting across from me. “The photos we found at your home yesterday indicate that the culprit is indeed your stalker. However, yesterday the police server was hacked and some information went missing. The code used is identical to the one used in several cases. This is now a joint operation between the Police Department and SIU.”

“Joint operation?”

“The SIU previously believed, and still do, that the campaign shooting, where Spike was first injured was engineered by the person who killed the HT, in an effort to get Team One out into the open and possibly take them out.”

“So it wasn’t my stalker that shot Spike?” I asked, slightly confused.

Mendoza exchanged a look with Greg.

“Well we, that is Sergeant Parker and I” he said, gesturing between him and Greg. “believe that this person, your stalker and Team One’s shooter is the same person.”

“So you’re saying,” I started, trying to wrap my head around the situation, “that my stalker is so obsessed with killing Spike, that they are willing to set up a hostage situation to get them out in the open?”

“Yes.”

I let out the breath I had been holding. “Great.” I muttered, leaning back in my chair.

“So what do we do?”

I grumbled to myself as I left the hospital. Their genius plan was to do nothing. I drove to home, grabbing some of his favorite movies, books, along with his cell-phone, i-Pod and some fresh clothes. I packed them into an overnight bag and set it next to the door so I would remember to take them with me to work so I could bring them to him when I visited tomorrow. I grabbed a tortilla and made myself a quesadilla, before flopping on my couch and turning on the TV. I channel flipped until I found a criminal minds episode and finished off my evening with a hot shower.

As soon as school was out the following day I booked it to the hospital, finally getting there around 3:30. His whole face lit up as I stepped into his room, and it lit up even more when I showed him what I had picked up. He gave me a kiss before he asked me to put in one of the DVDs.

Two movies later they kicked me out claiming that visiting hours were over. It was then that I realized I hadn’t heard from Team One all day. I called Jules but it went to voice mail. She must be on a call. When I got home I ignored my grading and just pulled on my pajamas, heading to bed early.

The next few weeks passed without incident, but I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Every other time we had been left alone meant that something bad was coming. Greg and Officer Mendoza told me that going weeks at a time without hearing from him was completely normal; that my stalker was probably ‘set off’ by the school dance, which means he might be a co-worker. They just made me more nervous. I visited Spike nearly everyday while he was recovering, and at the end of the third week, he was released to me. It was great having him home and it would’ve been so much more special if he wasn’t grouchy at the fact that he wasn’t supposed to move around a lot. However, that same week he left the hospital, he also started extensive PT. It would take himup to four months before he was fit for duty, and while I didn’t particularly mind having him around 24/7 I knew it drove him crazy and I wanted him to be happy.

I came home from work one day to find him on the couch, looking particularly miffed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, ignoring his attempts to get me to sit near him. He was going crazy, and lately...well, we hadn’t had sex, or cuddled, or been very intimate in a while, and it was driving him crazy. I didn’t want to risk hurting him, but he was getting more and more agitated in general..

“Parker interviewed my replacement today.”

I moved closer, rubbing his back, “you know your spot will be there for you when you get back.”

“I know, but what if something happens? What if they need me and I’m stuck here? And it’s only a week away.”

“Well you’re no use to them not fully healthy, and if they really need your help, they’ll call. Come on, PT time.” I stood up from the couch, dragging him to the car. He only had a week and a half left as the surgeons had done an excellent job removing the bullet from his chest. SRU was ready to have him back and he was itching to go.

We were halfway through the session when I heard my phone buzz. I ignored it, assuming it was Mia or Kennedy, as Jules was on shift. But it didn’t stop. Finally I ducked out of the room.

“Hello?”

“Rian?!” It was Sam’s panicked voice.

“Sam what’s wrong? Is that a siren-“

An earsplitting noise echoed across the phone-line and then it went dead. I called everyone but no one was answering their phones. I called Winnie, but the line was busy.

“We’re going to have to end this early.” I told the Physical Therapist; a blonde-haired guy who looked to be straight out of college.

“Spike something’s happened. We’re going to HQ”


	11. Anniversary

RIAN’S POV

We were half way to HQ when the news reports started. 

Breaking news, a female reporter started. About 20 minutes ago a series of explosions rocked the downtown. This event, on the anniversary of the terrorist attack three years ago, has started a search for a possible copycat. Injuries are not as extensive as they were three years ago, as it appears the explosions were placed to show off rather than injure as they were la-

I had almost forgotten that today was the anniversary of the terrorist attack against Toronto. From here, everything looked normal. I pulled into the parking lot, looking across to the garage and seeing all the SRU vehicles gone. All teams had been deployed; HQ was empty. The hallways were eerily quiet as Spike and I made our way to Team One’s area on the second floor; our footsteps echoing on the tile. As we got closer to Team One’s space we could hear Winnie talking hurriedly. We rounded the last corner and could finally see her, spinning back and forth in her station, handing out information and typing furiously. She saw us and shot us a strained smile, motioning for us to go to the briefing room. Shelley and Sophie were there, sitting on the ends of their seats watching the visual uplink Winnie has sent, the sounds of what was going on in real time, coming in through the speakers.

Sophie saw us first, standing up to give us tense hugs as she explained what she knew.

“Someone’s copying the terrorist attack from three years ago, but they’re targeting SRU members.”

I hugged Shelley, “Where’s Kevin?”

“Where do you think?” She smiled weakly, “trying to help.”

Spike and I slid into two adjacent chairs, our eyes fixed on the visual on screen. Winnie had gotten into the security cameras around the area where the bomb had been so we could see the aftermath. One corner of the screen showed a burning car surrounded by fire fighters, another showed a building missing a chunk of the top two floors and the other two corners showed two different SRU teams. One was working to diffuse a bomb, and the other was surrounding a man. He was wearing an explosive vest, and over the comms we could hear Greg trying to talk him down from blowing himself up. Spike grabbed my hand, his thumb rubbing a reassuring path along my pointer finger. I froze when I did the math. On screen Team One was two members short, and their voices weren’t heard over the comms. I was too afraid to ask. The seemingly calmness of what was happening on screen was juxtaposed to the yells and orders shouted over the comms as the man started screaming hysterically.

“Everybody out kn-”

There was a flash and everything cut out. All four of us waited with baited breath, they couldn’t be gone, they-

The screen flashed once and then the picture was back up. Audio had not been restored so we were forced to watch in silence as Team One were escorted out of the stadium by paramedics, leaving a hole in the ground where the man had stood. Sophie’s phone rang and she rushed outside to take it, coming back in to grab her keys only seconds later.

“Ed’s at the hospital, so I’m going there. I’ll send you guys updates.”

“We’ll be there shortly,” I said as she left the room.

I turned my attention back to the screen, watching as they moved off screen and we waited, panicking inside until…

With a crackle of static, the audio came back up. There was a big breath as we heard all of their voices. I leaned back in my chair, listening as they finished up. We could hear them talking about bomb disposal, and eventually they gave their last comment, turning off their comms as they prepared to head back to HQ. Winnie took the visual off screen and put the news channel up. From the burning car in the background I could tell the reporter was shooting just meters away from where we had been staring. In the background of his shot we could make out SRU vehicles leaving, SIU vehicles arriving, ambulances coming and going and at the forefront of the shot; the news reporter. 

It seems the suspect in question had a particular vendetta against some members of the teams sent to de-activate the bombs found downtown. According to an unnamed source the original bombs were placed as a distraction to lure the SRU teams out. The hospital has released records stating that all those injured in the blasts will fully recuperate. We have been informed however, that one of the bombs placed under PD vehicles did in fact explode, and the two officers caught in the blast have been transported to the nearest hospital and are expected to recover.

The brunette reporter was replaced by a balding meteorologist and there was nothing more said. Team One still had not returned and finally Britta, Winnie’s replacement came and Winnie was able to come talk to us as Britta took over the mess that was the communications.

Winnie flopped into the chair next to me, running her hands through her hair and then over her face.

“It’s been a mess Rian.” She said quietly

“Winnie, what happened?” I asked tentatively, holding Spike’s hand with my left one, and reaching out to grasp hers with my right.

“It’s my fault. I should’ve been able to tell it was a trap.” She looked so sad.

“It’s not your fault Winnie,” Spike said as he leaned forward to look at her around me. I rubbed his back softly as Winnie continued.

“A bomb threat came in, for that old parking garage downtown. I followed protocol and forwarded it to the necessary parties. I got an email from the Chief saying he thought it was worth checking out because of the possible damage to other buildings. He also specifically asked that Team One was sent to check it out. I just did as he said. I should’ve been able to tell we had been hacked. It wasn’t until Team one was already at the scene that the chief called and asked my why Team One was out there. The next thing I knew, Ed and Leah were trying to diffuse two different bombs found. Something happened and the countdown sped up. Ed and Leah made it out okay and more teams were brought in, including some uniforms and the Fire Department. People were asking me to cross check security cameras and police records, and the next thing I knew they were yelling about the guy, and then one of the SRU cars exploded and Sam was radioing in that he had caught the culprit. Ed and Leah were right next to the car that exploded and were taken to a hospital.” Before we could say anything else, she was practically running for the locker rooms.

“Can you wait here?”

“You’re my ride.” Spike replied jokingly, leaning back in his seat.

Winnie was sitting on the bench, finger’s shaking as she tried to untie her boots. I sat next to her, my hands going to her shoulders and rubbing her arms to try to comfort her. I watched as tears slowly seeped from beneath her eyelids. She leaned into my shoulder as she started to cry.

“It’s all my fault Rian.” She sobbed

“Shh, shh, no it’s not.” I hugged her, as she continued to cry.

I waited for her outside with Spike.

“Is she okay?” He asked as I sat down next to him.

“She thinks it was all her fault, that Ed and Leah are in the hospital.”

“She must know that’s not her fault.” He said running his hands through his hair.

“I’m going to take her home and make sure she’s okay. You can go ahead to the hospital if you want.”

“That’s okay, I’ll come with you.” He said, giving me a quick kiss, before he stood up. “I’ll be right back” he said, walking off.

He was back before Winnie was done changing, she came out shortly afterwards and I drove her home. She looked exhausted as she entered her apartment building, and we waited until we saw light shine through the curtains covering her apartment window on the third floor.

We were on the fourth floor of the hospital in thirty minutes; and Leah and Ed had been given adjoining rooms. Greg, Sophie, and the Chief were in Ed’s room and Sam and Jules were in Leah’s. Leah had taken a piece of shrapnel to the side, and had to have surgery, but Ed would be out the next day, they just wanted to keep him overnight for observation.

“Hey Rian, Spike.” Ed greeted us as we walked into his room. I hugged Sophie again, before walking over to stand next to Ed’s bed.

“Hey Ed” I said, moving to stand by his head. “How are you feeling?”

“Would you believe me if I said like rainbows and sunshine?”

I snickered, “No. I wouldn’t”

“Then, I feel like someone tried to blow me up.”

I grinned at that as well. “I’m glad to hear it.”

We talked with Ed for a while, and then went to say hi to Leah. We only got to speak to her for a few minutes before the nurse came in and told us to leave so Leah could get some sleep. We said goodbye to the rest of Team One, and made our way back to our house. I was in my bed half asleep before Spike got out of the shower.

“You okay?” He whispered as he slid under the covers behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I turned over, so I was facing him in the dark, his face barely lit from the alarm clock. I traced the scar that marked where he had taken the bullet.

“I guess so. I’m just happy they’re going to be okay.” I wrapped my arms around his waist too, and tucked my head under his chin.

“Just don’t do anything stupid. Ok?” I mumbled into his chest.

“I promise” He whispered as he rubbed my back. My eyes drifted shut as I came closer and closer to falling asleep.

“I love you” I thought I heard him whisper in my ear.

“Love you too pretty boy.” I murmured back before I fell completely asleep.


	12. The Picnic

Rian’s POV

Spike finished his PT half a week ahead of schedule; the attack on his team motivating him to get back to work. Ed, who escaped the bomb with minor bruising and a sprained wris, went back to work the same day Spike did. The only difference, was now there was a member of Cyber Crimes working with SRU’s dispatcher to find whoever has been hacking into the police and SRU databases. Once Spike was back at work, things weren’t so tense at home. He was a lot happier, and I was happier because of that. Over the next few weeks Leah made a full recovery and was soon back on the Team. All too soon it had been two months since the bombing, and the girls and I were finally getting out girls night out that we had planned over 6 months ago.

Winnie was hosting girls night at her place, and Spike was hosting a guys night at our house, so I had to hit the road before the house was overwhelmed with testosterone. I stepped out of the shower, slipping into a pair of loose gym shorts and a tank top. I pulled my hair into a sloppy bun. I almost ran into Spike coming out of the bedroom.

“Hey,” he said, leaning against the doorway, blocking my way out.

“Hey, yourself.”

“You look fetching.”

I rolled my eyes, “I know right? I look glamorous in pajamas.”

“You always look glamorous.”

“Aww, such a charmer.”

I leaned forwards, kissing him quickly. He groaned as I pulled away.

“We have some time,” He said, his hands going to my waist.

“Not enough Superman.” I said, as the doorbell rang. I scampered past him, opening the door.

“Hey Rian”

Ed and Sam were holding six packs and bags of food on the doorstep.

“Come on in guys! I was just leaving.”

“Here you go babe.” Spike said, coming up behind me with my bag of food, car keys, and cell phone.

“Okay. Okay, I get the point. Have fun boys!” I waved, heading down the driveway to my car.

The drive to Winnie’s was short and I was last to arrive; parking at the end of a long line of cars in front of her condo. I knocked on the door, opening it to the sounds of raucous laughing and hellos.

“Hey girls!”

“Rian!!” They chorused back waving their drinks in the air and offering me a spot on top of the piled blankets at the foot of the couch. They had set up shop in her living room, near the kitchen and in front of the giant TV. How to lose a guy in ten days was already playing when I added my chips, salsa, and truffles to the pile of food on the coffee table. I flopped next to Jules, grabbing a bowl and some cheetos from the coffee table.

“How was your week Jules?”

“It was fine. I get to deal with your mopey boyfriend at work though.”

“Mopey?”

“He misses you.” She said, teasing me.

“Aww… that’s so sweet.” Shelley broke in, leaning down from the couch to grab a handful of my cheetos.

I blushed, that was really sweet. “Well I don’t get to work with my husband. But how’s Sadie?”

“She’s good, we’re starting a new pre-school next year. How’s Clark?”

“Clark’s good. He’ll be a senior in college next year. I can’t even believe it. It seems like yesterday he was learning how to ride a bike.”

Shelley rubbed her back. “Come on, let’s watch the movie.”

Although Shelley suggested we watch the movie, the quiet lasted less than ten minutes.

“So you’ve slept together right?” Jules asked, everyone looked at her, not sure who she was asking, but when she turned to look directly at me, everyone started laughing while I blushed.

“Of course they have.” Winnie broke in, looking at Jules like she was crazy. “They’re living together.”

“Rian?”

“Yeah, we have.” I shifted uncomfortably, turning my attention back to the movie, trying to ignore the fact that everyone was watching me.

“And?” Winnie supplied,

“And it was great.”

“Just great.”

“What do you want me to say? That it was the best sex of my life?”

“Only if thats the truth?”

I shifted again, mumbling, “Itwasthebestsexofmylife.”

“What?” Winnie said, smiling viciously. I chucked a pillow at her head, hitting her square in the face,

“You heard me, IT WAS AMAZING.”

They all laughed at my outburst, continuing to tease me on and off through the remainder of the night. Leah was also a subject of teasing because of her new boyfriend, a club owner she knew from Haiti. We gossiped the whole night; the movies simply playing in the background as we laughed. We went through 4 movies and so much food before it was finally time to head back to our respective houses. Winnie divvied up the food, ensuring that we all took some of it home, as there was still too much of it leftover. We said our goodbyes around 2:40 AM, and left Winnie’s, all running to her car to get out of the rain, which was freezing cold. I was soaked by the time I got to my car.

When I finally pulled up in front of the house, It was 3:00AM and all the lights, except the porch light and the front hall light were off. I sprinted to the front door, unlocking it as quietly as I could. I crept, shivering upstairs, where I stripped and toweled myself off, still unable to get rid of the chill of the rain. Sliding my pajamas on I crawled into bed, trying, and failing, not to wake Spike up. He shifted under the covers, turning around and facing me in the dark.

“You’re home.” he said, his voice thick with sleep.

“Yeah. I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” He murmured, his hands finding my waist, and pulling me closer. “You’re freezing.”

“It’s raining outside.”

“No umbrella?”

“Nope.”

I dragged my foot along his calf before kissing him where I thought his mouth was. He let out shaky breath as I turned in his arms, drifting off to sleep.

“You ready for breakfast?” A voice asked in my ear.

“Hmm...” I rolled over in my bed, and glared at him. He was propped up on one elbow, looking slightly down at me. Instead of getting up, I rolled over, staring at the ceiling until suddenly, the ceiling was no longer in my line of sight. Spike had moved so fast I hadn’t even seen it coming. One minute he was next to me, the next, he was on top of me, his face inches from my own.

“Or… we could stay in bed…?” I smirked, lifting my head to kiss him.

After my shower I found Spike in the kitchen, looking in the fridge for something to eat.

“We might need to go to the store Ri.” He said as I looked over his shoulder into a practically empty fridge.

“Oh, yeah… that might be a good idea.”

He twisted around, grabbing my hand, and pressing a kiss to my knuckles

“Mhmm…” He said moving to kiss me.

“Hmm… we should really go. We don’t have anything to eat babe.” I said pulling away. “Come on.”

“Ugh.” He groaned as I tugged him to the front door.

“Come on!” I laughed, “Who’s driving?”

“I got it Ri.” He said taking the keys.

120 dollars later the fridge was stocked, and we were back at my house. We were sitting at the dining room table after lunch; Spike was filling out paperwork and doing something with his laptop and I was planning next year’s lessons when Spike’s cell phone rang.

“Hey Sarge. Mmmhmmm… Tomorrow? At the reservoir? Yeah we’ll be there.” He pulled the phone away from his ear and hung up,

“No shift tomorrow?”

“Nope. Team three is on call in the morning, and team two at night.”

“Ah, so what are we doing tomorrow?”

“Team One family picnic up at the reservoir.”

“Sounds like fun, Who’s going to be there?”

“Everyone” came the very vague reply.

I got up from my chair and walked so I was behind him. Leaning down, I draped my arms around him, resting my head on his shoulder.

“You’re being very vague.” I said, right as he closed a window he was looking at. “What are you looking at bud?”

“Nothing, just some crime scene photos. You don’t want to see them.”

I frowned, since when were crime scene photos on the web.

“Ok.”

He noticed my frown and poked my cheek, “It’s really nothing.”

“Okay. Want to watch a movie tonight?”

“Sure.”

A few hours later I was done with my lessons but Spike had not yet finished whatever he was doing on the internet. Whenever I had tried to see what it was, he closed the window, pretending to be looking at photos from a crime scene. Finally he put the computer down and shot me a huge smile.

“Dinner?”

“Sure, what are you in the mood for?”

He continued to smile like a kid caught in a candy store, “Fettucine?”

I grinned, “yeah. Come help though.”

He followed me into the kitchen, where I pulled the ham, peppers, onions, and broccoli from the fridge. I passed the vegetables and the meat over to him with a cutting board and a knife.

“Here, dice these.”

I found the flat pan I was looking for and then went to raid the spice cabinet. I also grabbed the cream, milk, and cheese from the fridge, setting everything I needed on the counter next to the stove. I started the water, lightly salting it before setting it to boil. Once Spike was done I swept the vegetables and meat into the pan, now covered in olive oil. Once the vegetables and meat had been sauteed I added the rest of the ingredients for the sauce, watching as Spike sat on the couch, leaning back and flipping through Netflix, trying to find something to watch. I finished the sauce, leaving in on a low heat as I waited for the pasta to finish.

Soon it was done and I was sitting next to Spike on the couch, with a full plate of fettucine in my hands and the latest Brad Pitt movie playing. It was called World War Z and it was about zombies, but it wasn’t the complete piece of trash I thought it would be. After we had paused the movie to put the dishes away I grabbed a blanket, leaning against Spike and draping the blanket over both of us.

“You know how we said we were going to look for a house?”

I looked up at Spike, we had lost hope after a few months of looking.

“Yeah, of course.”

“You still want to get one, right?”

I sat up, pausing the movie and turning to face him properly. I cupped his face in my hands, forcing him to look at me.

“What’s wrong Spike?”

“Nothing, nothings wrong.”

“Bullshit.”

“Ri-”

“You’ve been acting funny all day.” Then it clicked, I stood up, standing in front of him trying not to think about what I was going to say next.

“A...Are you trying to leave me?”

The expression on his face was proof enough,

“Wha- No. God no. Ri, I love you and I want us to buy a house and live there together until we grow old.” He tugged on my hand, pulling me down so I was straddling his lap, facing him. “I love you.” he repeated, his fingers moving to bring my chin up. He leaned forwards, my eyes fluttering closed as our lips connected.

“You still want to get a house right?” He repeated, pulling away slightly.

I smiled, “Yes. I would love that.” I moved my head forwards, kissing him teasingly on his nose before he moved forwards, capturing my lips. His hand moved to cup my jaw as he turned his head slightly in an effort to deepen the kiss. I leaned against him, sitting up slightly so he had to tilt his head up. He pulled away again, but I could still feel his lips move as he spoke.

“I think I found a house.”

The day of the picnic flew by and soon we were driving to the reservoir, armed with hotdogs, chips, and pasta salad. Spike drove, and as a result we were the first ones there. I placed the food down on the picnic table.

“So we have 6 twelve hour shifts over the next eight days.” Spike was saying. “Umm.. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday.”

“Okay. I don’t have anything special this week so just let me know what you want for dinner.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll also call the realtor and schedule an appointment for next week.”

“Great! I’ll do more looking as well, and then annoy the crap out of you when you get home.” He shot me a smirk,

“depends on what you’re doing to annoy me.”

I playfully smacked his shoulder.

“Spike! Rian!” We turned around to see Sophie, Ed, Clark, Izzy, and an unknown girl walking across the parking lot, laden down with bags. I hurried over, grabbing a bag from Sophie.

“Rian, Spike, this is Gina, Clark’s girlfriend.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” I said, shaking her hand after I’d put down the bag.

“Hope Ed hasn’t been giving you too hard of a time.” Spike said, also shaking her hand. Clark blushed and wrapped an arm around her, as if trying to block her from our stares. Ed and Spike moved the picnic tables into a half rectangle shape in front of the grill as Sophie and I laid out the tablecloths and paper products. Spike and Ed both opened a bottle of beer, sitting at another table with Clark, while Gina, Izzy, Sophie and I talked about them at a separate table. None of us saw Jules and Sam come up until Sadie ran up to Izzy, practically tackling her to the ground in a bear hug. I stood up, hugging Jules and Sam before making room for Jules at the girls table. Kevin and Shelley were next, then Leah and Winnie, and finally Greg.

Once Greg arrived the guys started to tackle the grill, still talking off in their own little world. I thought I heard my name a couple of time, but when I turned around, Spike was talking earnestly to Kevin. Spike saw me looking a gave a little wave, I smiled and turned around, refocusing on Sophie.

“Food’s ready!” Ed called a few minutes later. Spike was the perfect gentleman and came to wait at the back of the line with me. Jules and Sam saved us seats and I slid in next to Sam, as Spike hurriedly took the seat next to Jules. The food was delicious and we spent quite a while just sitting around eating. Spike and Jules kept whispering back and forth about something, but I couldn’t tell what over all the conversations. Some of the guys kept giving me strange smiles, as if they knew something I didn’t. Finally everyone was done eating and Greg stood up,

“I’d like to thank you all for coming today, and I hope everyone had a good time. We’ve dealt with a lot since we became Team One, and I hope these next few months will be easier on us. Keep the Peace!”

Ed slapped him on the back as he sat down.

“Nice, boss.” he said, smiling and wrapping an arm around Sophie’s shoulders.

Soon the picnic was over and shortly after that summer was over too. School started back up again, and I continued to worry about Spike. The only disturbances came from the occasional cream colored letter arriving on our doorstep, which I handed over to Constable Mendoza. The stalker hadn’t done anything major in almost a year, but he continued to harass us, reminding us he was out there and watching. Spike had convinced me that we shouldn’t move yet. He wanted the stalker caught before we moved anywhere else; limiting his sphere of influence. We had a huge fight about it, but in the end, he won. I knew he was only protecting me, and it made sense. The first real break I got from school was on December 15th; the first day of my very long vacation. I guess because we had students from all over the world, we got fewer vacations but those we did get were extra long.  

"Hey gorgeous!"

A voice called from the entryway as I heard the front door open and shut. 

"Hey superman." I called back, hearing him drop his duffel in the entryway. Soon enough I felt his arms circle my waist as he hugged me.

"How was shift?" I asked as he kissed me quickly on the cheek. I turned around to make sure he was okay.

“Nothing bad happened right?” I asked visually scanning him for injuries.

“I’m fine Rian, but I do have a present for you.” He said pulling out two long rectangular pieces of paper.

“What are these?” I asked, examining them, “...Tickets to the New Year’s Eve Police Ball?!”

“I was hoping you’d accompany me,”

“Who else were you gonna take?”

“Hmm.. maybe I’d call Izzy, see if she wanted to go with me” I smacked his shoulder playfully, “No but really, I’m glad you like it.” He said, smiling broadly.

“I have to go shopping, maybe Jules’ will want to go with me.” I mused, tucking the tickets behind one of the magnets on the fridge.

A week later, I was on my way out to a shopping trip when I discovered a cream colored envelope on my windshield. This was getting more annoying that frightening, and I couldn’t understand why they hadn’t caught him. They hadn’t caught the SRU hacker yet either, but his case was still open. Sighing I did what I had done with the hundreds of letters, who’s sender still remained anonymous, despite Officer Mendoza’s greatest efforts. Only 6 words were printed on the page.

Do not go to the ball.


	13. The Ball

RIAN’S POV

“Hey girl want to go shopping.” Jules said when I picked up the phone, my voice still thick with sleep. I was still in bed, enjoying the fact that Christmas vacation meant I didn’t have to wake up early. Spike was still asleep next to me.

“Jules, it’s 9 AM.”

“Exactly, we need to get a good start or all the dresses will be gone.”

“Ugh… I’m coming I’m coming.”

“Okay, I’ll pick you up in 90 minutes.” and then she was gone. Spike twisted around, his arms automatically wrapping around my waist, pulling me farther into the bed. He pressed his face into the crook of my neck.

“Why are you up?” he mumbled

“Jules wants to go shopping.”

“Tell her I don’t want to go.”

“I don’t think you were invited,” I pointed out. “We’re going dress shopping for the ball.”

“Mmmm…” he hummed, slipping back into sleep.

I cautiously untangled myself from his arms, starting to get ready.

90 minutes later Spike was still asleep and Jules was pulling into our driveway, right on time. I hopped in and she handed me a peppermint mocha; my favorite.

“Are you ready for this? We are going to find those pesky dresses today.”

“Are Winnie and Leah coming?”

“Yeah, they’re meeting us at the mall.”

“Hmmm…” I mumbled, taking another sip of my coffee, and listening to the music filtering in through the radio.

We met Leah and Winnie by the big fountain on the second floor before making a beeline towards the first of the shops on our list. We walked along the racks, looking for something that caught our eye. This was a legitimate ball; tuxes for the men, and gowns for the women, it was going to be expensive. Winnie and I both didn’t find anything we liked, so we took a seat on the couch in front of the dressing stalls. Jules came out first, took one look in the mirror at the purple halter top and groaned.

“Hell no.” Winnie and I giggled slightly at her reaction, which, to be completely honest was justified.

“Try the red one on,” Winnie suggested as Jules shut the stall door. Leah stepped out in a deep orange gown, almost red. It was one shoulder and looked amazing on her.

“You had better buy that.” I said, staring as she pivoted back and forth in front of the mirror. She turned around, craning her neck backwards so she could see the back of it.

“Seriously,” Jules said, stepping out. “You should get that.”

“Ehhh… I’m not a huge fan of the color.” She replied thoughtfully, “but I love the design and the fabric. I’ll keep a lookout for another color.”

Half an hour later we left the store with mostly empty hands, except for Leah, who had found the dress in a magenta-purplish color and bought it. We all agreed that it looked amazing on her, but the rest of us still needed to find something. Jules needed to find one today so it could be tailored as she was quite a bit shorter than a lot of the dresses. The second shop was a bust; we only spent about five minutes in there before we came to the realization that all the dresses were too skimpy for this occasion.

We all lucked out at the third store, a classy shop that seemed as though it was trying very hard to be french. Jules fell in love with an off the shoulder ivory gown with black and silver flowers around the top that faded as they got lower on the gown. She tried it on and it actually fit perfectly. We weren’t sure it was supposed to be full length originally, but it fit her nicely. When I came out with my first choice on Jules was twisting in front of the mirror, examining the dress.

“Damn Jules, you look great.”

“You look fairly nice yourself.” she turned around to look at the gown I had chosen. It was strapless, navy blue, and hugged my curves in all the right places while maintained it’s flowyness with a silver gem belt right below my breasts. .

“Ri. You are buying that dress.” Winnie said, stepping out in a dark green dress with a high collar key hole and silver embellishments around the waist.

“Likewise.” I said, letting out a whistle. She looked amazing. We all stood in front of the mirror admiring ourselves.

“I think we lucked out girls. We look fine.” she said, dragging out the ‘fine’. Leah approved all our choices, showing us the pair of black and gold shoes she had found up front, Once we were back in our day to day clothes we paid. Leah got lucky, but the rest of us had to go food shopping. However,

“I’m starving.” Winnie said as we walked past the food court on our way to Jules’ favorite shoe store.

“Let’s stop and get something to eat.” Leah suggested, pretending we all couldn’t hear our stomachs growling. Winnie and I got chinese, while Jules and Leah went for pizza. As Winnie and I were standing in line, talking about the ball the hairs on the back of my neck began to rise. I tried to shake it off, focusing on Winnie talking about this great guy she met at a bar; Liam.

“Tell me about him when we’re back at the table.” I said, still not able to shake the feeling that someone was watching me, “Everyone else is going to want to hear about him.”

Just then our orders came up. As we walked back to the table Jules and Leah had picked out I surveyed the crowd; I couldn’t see anyone outright staring, but this was a huge food court, and there were a lot of people.

I pulled my phone out seeing a message from Spike.

Hey. Missed you this morning. I do recall something about shopping with Jules. Hope you find what you’re looking for. See you later.

I quickly typed back a response, as I listened to Winnie tell us all about Liam.

Hey superman I found a dress. We are looking for shoes now so I don’t know how long we’ll be. Hopefully I’ll be home in 2-3 hours ;)

I put my phone away, focusing instead on Winnie’s new beau and my chinese food. Once we were full and knew everything there was to know about Liam, we headed back towards the shoe shop talking excitedly about the ball and the awards ceremony. I felt a buzz in my pocket and checked my phone.

I’ll be here :)

I smiled, he was so sweet.

30 minutes later we were leaving the shoe store with our purchases, Winnie had some black stillettos, Jules had bought some ivory and silver shoes, and I had gotten some dark silver platforms.

“Okay, I should be heading home, Liam’s coming over for dinner.” Winnie said, digging through her purse for her keys

“Have fun!”

“Good luck!”

“Get some!”

We all laughed at Winnie who looked mortified at Leah’s comment, but she gave us hugs and waved goodbye as she walked towards the parking lot where her car was parked. Leah broke off shortly afterwards, heading down the branch of the mall that would dump her near her car.

Laden down with our shopping bags Jules and I walked back through the mall looking for the right parking lot. However, we got slightly sidetracked as we passed a lingerie store that boasted a sign out front saying ‘75% OFF EVERYTHING’. Jules shot me a look,

“Yup.” I said, braving the store. 30 minutes later we were back out in the mall proper each laden down with a new bag. I was blushing slightly, but Jules looked excited.

“So it sounds like each Team gets a table, so we’ll all be together.” Jules was saying as we climbed into her car.

“Great! Then I won’t have to make awkward small talk with my neighbor.”

“Yeah I know right. I bet the guys look really spiffy in their tuxes. I can’t wait to see Sam in his.”

“I’ve seen Spike’s. It’s nice.”

Soon Jules was pulling up outside our house.

“Come on in,” I said, climbing out of the car. “We have your christmas presents for you.”

“Ah. Great.” She said turning off the car.

“Hey babe!” I called, opening the front door.

“Hey Princess.” He called, probably from the living room.

“Where did we put Jules’ and Sam’s presents?”

“I think they’re in the spare bedroom? I’ll bring them down, give me a second.”

Jules followed me into the couch where I put my shopping bags. Moments later, Spike appeared; his arms full of the gifts for Jules’ family. Spike handed them over with a hello and ‘Merry Christmas’ and then we said goodbye to Jules. When I walked back into the living room after seeing Jules off I found Spike rifling through my bags.

“Looking for something?”

He turned around, pouting slightly, “I just wanted to see your new dress.”

“You’ll see it at the ball.” I said, grabbing the bags and setting them at the foot of the stairs, so I could take them up to my closet the next time I went upstairs.

He continued pouting, as he sidled up next to me in the kitchen.

“Want some?” I asked, moving the hand that was holding the water pitcher.

“Nah, I already have a glass. Come sit down with me.” He intertwined our fingers, pulling me over to the couch.

“When’s your next shift?”

“December 27th. Team’s 4, 2 and 5 drew the short straw this year, so they get to work the shifts for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years.”

I looked at the calendar that marked today as December 23rd.

“So 4 days.”

“Yup, you get me all to yourself for four days.”

“What do you want to do tomorrow.”

“Maybe we could go for a walk, down my the pier? There’s supposed to be nice lights up.”

“Sounds fun.”

I must’ve fallen asleep on the couch because I woke up in bed, wrapped in Spike’s arms. He was breathing softly but deeply into my ear, but I couldn’t go back to sleep no matter how hard I tried. Sliding out of bed quietly I pulled on sweatpants and fuzzy socks before padding into the kitchen. I quietly started making pancakes, hoping to be able to take them upstairs for breakfast in bed. I went about mixing the batter and pouring it onto the griddle, my ears straining for a sign that he had woken up. I poured him some orange juice and set it on the tray next to the maple syrup and pile of pancakes and still burning hot bacon.

I set the tray on the floor of our room so I could wake him up.

“Spike? Babe?” I gently shook his shoulder but he didn’t move. I crawled onto the bed, putting my mouth next to his ear. “Come on babe. Time to wake up. Happy Christmas Eve.” I kissed his cheek, but he was still sound asleep. I pushed, him harder this time until I saw the corner of his mouth twitch. “You’re awake! You’ve been awake this whole time.” I said, grabbing my pillow and hitting him with it. In a flash the pillow was yanked out of my hands and Spike had rolled us over, trapping me beneath him.

“You know it’s not nice to hit people.” He said, smirking. He leaned down for a kiss.

“Happy Christmas Eve,” he murmured when he pulled away, sitting up and crawling off me.

“I made breakfast” I said, panting slightly from the kiss.

“I know, smells delicious” He brought the tray up onto the bed and set it between us as we shared the food.

A few hours later, once we had used up all the hot water and were dressed Spike was pacing about the room muttering to himself.

“Something wrong?” I asked as I started preparing the kitchen for cooking supper.

“No, no… nothings wrong.” He replied unconvincingly.

“Do you want to start the chicken? It might take your mind off it.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

He did start the chicken, but he seemed abnormally distracted.

After a few hours of cooking, eating and listening to christmas songs he was finally putting the chicken in the oven.

“You want to go for a walk in the park before dinner?” He asked, as he shut the oven door.

“We shouldn’t really leave the ov-” I stopped, seeing how crestfallen he looked, “I’d love to.” I said, changing my answer quickly.

His face lit up again, and once everything was either on the stove, or in the oven, we pulled on our boots and coats, and trekked outside.

It was quite dark already, but the moon shone off the white snow, making it sparkle violently. It only took us a few minutes to reach the park. Someone had hung a lot of the trees with different colored lights that colored patches of snow beneath them. I took in a breath.

“It really is gorgeous, isn’t it.” I breathed, my breath crystallizing in front of me.

Spike reached out to wrap an arm around me, giving me a side hug.

“Yeah, it is.”

I continued walking towards the lighted trees, hoping to see more. It wasn’t until something wet and cold hit the back of my head, that I realized Spike wasn’t next to me. I whirled around just in time to see him throwing another snowball at me. I ducked, grabbing some snow and throwing it back at him. It hit him directly in the face and I laughed at his startled expression. Using his surprise I bent down again, scooping up a handful of snow. This time he ducked, and lobbed one that caught my thigh as I turned to run away. He chased me into the lighted trees, the colored lights looking like glowing flowers high in the trees branches.

I was hiding behind a tree, looking for Spike when I was hit from behind. I turned, almost falling over on the slippery snow, to find Spike whipping snowball after snowball at me. Bracing myself I made the suicide run, tackling Spike to the ground, laughing.

“Got you.” I said, laughing.

“Yeah, that was a nice tackle.”

“You’re aim is too good.” I complained, not moving off of him. We were both panting slightly after our exertion. I rested my head on his chest, catching my breath.

I looked up at Spike, resting my chin on his chest. “We should be getting back soon.”

“I know.” He was smiling broadly, “but we should definitely do that again.”

“Definitely.”

“Rian I want you to marry me.” I did a double take,

“What?”

“Rian, will you, make me the happiest man alive, and marry me?”

He was looking down at me, a nervous expression on his face as he stood up, pulling me into a standing position. I was in shock. He was staring eagerly at me, but I couldn’t make my mouth form the words. I leaned up and kissed him. Pulling him down to my height, hoping he would understand my answer.

“So I’m going to assume that’s a yes.” He breathed as I pulled away, nodding. Then he looked sheepish; his hand went to the back of his head, rubbing it nervously.

“I.. don’t have the ring with me.. it’s back at the house. I was going to propose at dinner, but it kind of just slipped out.”

I smiled at him and we started off back home.

“Would it be okay if I told people.”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

“I don’t know…”

We trudged back up the driveway, shaking ourselves off in the front hall. I insisted we change first, as I was still freezing. Spike pouted slightly, but instantly started stripping, quickly yanking on a pair of track pants and a T-shirt and I thought about what I wanted to wear. I had just slid on my purple sweatpants when two arms slid around my waist, their warmth contrasting against the cold of the shirt. He slowly lifted the hem over my head when he realized how

wet and cold I really was. He handed me my Black Widow shirt, which I quickly pulled over my head and then he spun me around, getting down on one knee, a little blue box in his hands.

“Rian, will you marry me?” He asked for the third time. I nodded, as he took my left hand and slid the ring on. It was small, and perfect, the silver band twisting around three stones in the middle, a sapphire and two diamonds. The entire ring was so delicate and intricately carved; I loved it. I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him, but shortly we were interrupted by the oven timer, which began to go off in the kitchen. Spike ran down to get the chicken out and I followed. He was taking the chicken out of the oven as I dished the mashed potatoes, corn, and broccoli into serving dishes.

We quickly set everything around the table and I grabbed my phone as Spike poured champagne. I held up my champagne glass and took a picture with Spike, making sure my engagement ring was able to be seen before sending it to friends.

I didn’t check my phone for 3 more days after Christmas Eve, as Spike was sucking up every waking moment I had; not that I minded. The day he went back on shift was the day I finally checked my phone. There were a few messages, just saying Merry Christmas, but no one had seen the ring. I sighed, I was going to have to make this a lot more obvious.

Only a few days later I was getting ready for the ball. I stood in our bathroom applying the finishing touches to my intricate updo and checking my makeup. I peeked around the bathroom door, making sure Spike was still downstairs. I slid on the dress and then the heels, grabbing my dress coat and clutch as well before I made my grand entrance downstairs. Spike’s jaw dropped and I smirked.

“You look amazing.” He said as I finished my descent.

“You don’t look half bad yourself.” I replied, tugging on his tux.

“Are you ready madame?” He asked, offering me his arm.

“Absolutely Sir.” I replied, taking it.

“So no one had figured out all the pictures I’ve been sending everyone.” I said, when we were driving to the hotel.

Spike just grinned, “then we get to tell them tonight.”

The car ride there took about 30 minutes, but soon we arrived at the hotel entrance. The valet took Spike’s SUV as we made our way inside. A poster that hotels use to announce which events were taking place in their ball and conference rooms pointed us towards The Grand Ball Room. Two hotel workers were taking tickets at the double door. The ball room was covered in the police seals and decorated with blue, grey, black and white. A stage was set up on the far side of the ballroom, with a moderately sized dance-floor in front. A bar was directly opposite the stage and the rest of the floor was littered with round tables, each bearing a certain seal or marker for a division of the police force. When we entered the room, waiters were already serving dinner as most of the tables were full and a DJ was playing music in the background. Lots of couples waved as we past, but finally we made it to table 8, Identifiable because of the TEAM ONE sign hanging from a balloon tied to the table.

“You guys are late” Greg said with a small smile, standing up to give me a hug. 

“You look great.” Jules whispered in my ear when it was her turn.

“You too.”

Once greetings were over Spike and I took the two remaining seats. We saw waiters beginning to appear, but Spike was practically jumping out of his seat.

“Guys? Guys. We have some news.” Spike announcing, pulling my chair closer and wrapping an arm around my bare shoulders. I casually raised my left hand to intertwine our fingers and I saw the girls zero in on the ring. “We’re getting engaged!” Spike announced, beaming broadly. A few jaws dropped and then everyone was smiling and congratulating us.

“I told you so” Sophie said proudly, elbowing her husband,. “Congratulations you two.” She said with a smile, giving me a huge hug.

After the congratulations and hugs were over, we sat down to our food. I had the salmon with rice pilaf and stir-fried vegetables, while all the men had the same: Steak with mashed potatoes and green beans. Dinner lasted an hour and a half as people were too busy talking and moving between tables to finish their first course quickly. Spike and I were passed from friend to friend as congratulations were made and hugs were given.

Finally the police chief, a tall lean, African American man, took the stage with a large smile. Speeches were made about how dedicated everyone was, and how well the force worked together, about how we had the lowest crime rate and highest closure rate. Before the awards Ed came back with a tray full of drinks.

“Want to dance?” Spike asked, as more couples moved to the floor.

As soon as I took his hand I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck; like someone was watching me. The feeling never left, but I shrugged it off as song morphed into song. Finally the music dimmed and the commissioner took the stage,

“Now is the time you’ve all been waiting for. Awards!”

The following cheer was the loudest anyone had received all night, but it might’ve been due to the fact that people were also the most drunk.

“First up, we have the SRU’s fastest response time. And the award goes to…. TEAM THREE!”

Harry Riene, Team Three’s leader, stood among among cheers from the room to receive the prize. Samuel Colt, Beth Weiser, Laura Holtz, and Max Hammerd were all called up for various awards.

“For most creative solution the award goes to… Captain Ben Holan!”

A tall broad, latino man stood up, grinning broadly to claim the award.

“Best negotiator goes to…. Sergeant Greg Parker.”

Our table leapt to its feet clapping and cheering as Greg made his way to the stage to claim his trophy and gift card.

“Our final award is the Most Valuable Player award. Last year it went to detective Wilson. This year, I am proud to announce, the Police Department’s MVP is…. Michelangelo Scarlatti!”

I kissed him on the cheek and gave him a quick hug before he went to shake hands with the commissioner and pick up a trophy and an envelope with mystery contents. While Spike was preoccupied with congratulations and pictures I looked around the room once more, still feeling like someone was watching me.

The awards were all given out, but there was still some sort of video, but first, more dancing and music. Spike was still swarmed by congratulators, and when they finally all cleared he had disappeared. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted an entrance to what looked like a balcony.

“Rian? Where are you going?” Jules asked as the lights dimmed in preparation for the video.

“I’m going to get Spike. I think he went outside for some air. I’ll be right back.”

I heard the music start as I wove between tables, heading for the balcony. I didn’t see it as I looked through the window, so I opened the door, stepping out into the night.

“Spike? Spike?”

I looked to my left, seeing a small path going to another balcony. I could see a figure standing there against the backdrop of city-lights. My heels clacked on the stone as I made my way through the dark.

“Spike?” My question turned to fear as I realized the figure I had seen. A tall man, stood over what was now obviously Spike’s kneeling form, holding a gun to his head.

“Hello Rian.” The man said, looking up at me with glinting green eyes.


	14. K.J.

RIAN'S POV

With the gun still pointing at Spike's head the man stood up straight. Aside from the mask covering his face, he looked just like any of the 100 or so waiters working in the hotel.

"Don't you recognize me?"

My voice managed to come out calmly while my heart pounded away in my chest.

"How am I supposed to know who you are with a mask on?"

He ignored my question. "Do you understand how hard this is for me?" He asked his green eyes hardening. "Choose."

"What?" I asked, my eyes widening.

"Choose. Right now. Michelangelo or me."

My eyes flickered from the menacing man in black, to Spike, who shook his head almost imperceptibly at me, his brown eyes full of worry. The wind started to pick up, bringing the sounds of laughter in from the ballroom. What could I do?

"Keep in mind, how dangerous this choice can be." His voice was flinty, challenging.

With one final look at Spike I raised my head to meet his green eyes with my blue ones. I had one option. I only hoped he would forgive me. I steeled myself for what I was about to say.

"How could I ever choose Spike over you. You've put so much effort into talking to me, getting my attention." Was I overdoing it? "The only reason I ever liked Spike was because I was afraid that you would disappear."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Spike’s face drop. He can’t possibly think I’m telling the truth...right?

He obviously bought it because he lowered his weapon.

"...Me?"

I moved closer slowly, "It's always been you."

The movement was so swift I didn't realize what he was doing until the gun had crashed down onto Spike's head and Spike collapsed onto the ground.

Spike's POV

I closed my eyes the minute I opened them; the light caused sharp pain to echo inside my head. What the hell? I inched my eyes open and I winced as the light seemed to pierce right through my skull... Rian! I searched my surroundings, realizing I was no longer on a balcony. Sam and Ed were talking in the corner and I felt a cool hand pressing me down onto the bed as I tried to sit up. I turned, the pain slowly receding as my eyes focused and I could see Jules, still in her dress leaning over me.

"Where's Rian?" My voice came out low and hoarse.

"Ed, Sam. He's up." She said softly, calling them over.

"Hey Man, how're you doing?" Ed said, standing above me.

I ignored their sounds of protest as I sat up, pulling off the electrodes that were strapped to my body. The flat tone of the heart monitor instantly brought nurses in, but I shooed them away. However, Ed won and a nurse checked me out. She ruled that other than the pain in my head I was perfectly fine. Although I should take a day or two off-duty, yeah, like THAT was ever gonna happen.

When the nurse was gone and I was buttoning the dark blue dress shirt I had worn to the ball.

"Where's Rian?" I asked again, "did she go home?"

Jules and Sam shared a look and Ed looked worried.

"We don't know where she is."

My mind flew back to what had happened. She had chosen him...It couldn't have been real though...could it?

"You mean no one saw her leave? We don't know where she is?!" I was yelling by the time I finished talking.

"Do we have any leads? Do we know anything?" I asked again almost desperately.

"Greg and Leah are at the office, we have Police looking everywhere and running back the security cameras from the hotel. They're waiting for you."

"Well let's go." I said, walking out of the door.

Ed caught me up on where they were in the car as he sped us all the way to HQ. Finally we were running up the stairs to HQ. Jules ducked into the changing room to change out of her dress.

“Spike!” I turned,

“Yeah boss?”

Parker drew me aside, “we’re going to find her… okay?”

I nodded stonily, before walking back to my desk, my finger already running over the keyboard before I was already sitting down.

"Can I see the video surveillance?" We were all huddled around a corner of HQ looked over a set of various monitors and sitting in wheelie chairs. There was a city-wide alert for Rian now. My eyes scanned the surveillance. The man hid his face from the cameras, with his coat folded over his arm. He walked slightly behind her, the coat almost touching her back...

"Sarge. Did you guys see the gun?"

"Yeah, Winnie thought he might've had a gun under the coat."

"Did you get what Rian is mouthing?"

"Huh?" This had the sergeant looking over my shoulder as I played the footage back. We saw he look directly at the camera and mouth something.

"Jules!" Sarge called out. Then Jules was leaning over my other shoulder.

"I think... Yes. Look at her hand." Jules said, pointing at the screen.

There, Rian's hand was flickering through symbols.

"Hey Jules." I said, looking up at her. "Is that Sign language? I know Rian took it once."

"Yeah one sec. Winnie can you run this through a program?"

"I can read it. We don't need a program." Came the reply. "Give me two seconds... Ummm.. K-E-V-I-N-J-A-C-K-some weird thing and then-O-N. It's a name. Does anyone recognize it?"

"I do. " I wracked my brains. College? Passing reference? Then I got it.

"Kevin? Winnie, can you run it against the names of teachers at The Academy?"

“Yeah, let’s see… There’s a Kevin Jackson?”

“That’s too close to what Rian signed to be a coincidence.” Jules said,

“Kevin Jackson, computer-science teacher, used to work for the department of Homeland Security, he failed his psychological after his fiancé died. Spike..." Winnie's voice trailed off. "You need to come see this."

I spun around, making it to her station in a few seconds.

There, on her screen was a picture of Rian. I blinked several times; it wasn't her. This girl's eyes were dark brown, and her brow was more furrowed, her hair was a little lighter. In fact, the more I looked the less in common I found, but at first glance, she looked exactly like Rian.

"She looks just like Rian." Jules murmured staring at the screen. "Who is she?"

"Her name was Jessica Gallagher. She was Kevin's fiancé in D.C."

"Great."

"Can you remember much from what happened on the balcony?"

"Not really, He made her choose him or me. She chose him"

"Okay. We are going to assume she is a hostage. Do we have any idea where he could be keeping her?"

"I'll send police to check his apartment but I doubt he's there." Winnie interjected, "I'll bet you anything he's the one that's been hacking us and setting up people to take the fall, he’s got the skills.."

20 minutes later we received a call. The only things found in Kevin's apartment were a surveillance kit, a bed, some clothes, a printer and several expensive computers. And we are talking, like government-spy-tech computers. I skimmed over the pictures the officers on scene sent us.

"Woah. Winnie. These are really intense. This is probably how he hacked us."

"There's nothing here to indicate where he is now." Ed said, flipping through the photos of the bare apartment.

"I read this book once." Jules started, "where the bad guys used someone else's name to rent the house."

"Sorry Jules. I'm not following you." Leah said, interjecting.

"Winnie, can you run other names associated with Kevin Jackson's?" Jules asked, calling to Winnie.

"Like parents or siblings?"

"Yes. Exactly."

"...There's nothing"

JULES' POV

I was pacing up and down. Everything we had tried had yielded no response. My best friend was the hostage of some crazy psychopath and what was I doing? Nothing. I looked over at Spike, who had been as tense as a stretched rubber band since he had arrived; his hands were still in fists as he wracked his brain for something to do.

"Jules, Spike, Ed, Sam, Leah." Greg called out our names.

"Yeah boss?"

"Suit up. We are going to go to his apartment. See if the uni's missed anything."

I sighed and Spike rigidly got up to grab his bag.

Ten minutes later we were driving towards one of the many apartment complexes that littered downtown. As we pulled up outside, the uni's were already setting a perimeter around the front doors. Controlling the public's access to the crime scene.

Kevin Jackson's apartment was on the 9th floor; apartment 9f. It was a small two-room rent-controlled apartment, dirty inside and out. When we entered the apartment the kitchen was directly on our right.

"Something smells funky" Leah said crinkling her nose.

"SRU?" A young cop asked coming forward. 

"Detective Mendoza just got here, he's in the bedroom waiting for you"

"Spike." Mendoza said gravely, coming out of the bedroom. "How's your head?"

"Nothing I can't handle." Spike responded confidently, "did you find anything?" he asked, still worried. I had no idea how he was holding it together.

Mendoza motioned for us to follow him. We walked through a dingy doorway into a pristine bedroom. This room, in direct contrast to the dirty cramped combined kitchen and living room. The bed was neatly made and a long table stood at one wall covered with computers, wires, and other gadgets. Directly above that table there was a map of the city with pushpins connecting strings from places to surveillance photos taped up around the map. On the wall directly opposite the computer table was covered with surveillance photos. They were organized by date and place. 

"What is this?" Spike asked in a whisper.

"Look, he didn't just stalk Rian. We're here too, and Mia and Kennedy." I said, mostly for Ed and Leah's benefit as they were still in the living room, coming over every last piece of furniture. 

We spent over an hour trying to find a hint as to where he was keeping her.

Then I had the idea.

"Winnie, run the name of the fiancé."

"Okay, give me a second."

It was more like a minute before Winnie got a hit. It seemed like everything stopped as we listened to Winnie's computer beeping at her over the comms.

"We got a hit."


	15. "Is It Over?"

JULES’ POV

Everything seemed to freeze as we all waited for Winnie to read us what was on her computer screen.

"Apparently someone rented a docking spot at the New Haven Marina under the name Jessica Gallagher." 

I didn't realize I had been holding my breath until I let it out. I turned to look at Spike. His back was to me, he was facing the picture-covered wall, staring at the surveillance photos of Rian.

"Winnie, call the Marina and check to see if the boat is still there. I'm going to get some uni's down to the docks, to keep an eye out for him and the boat.”

“Got it Sarge.”

Greg made the call to the nearest precint, and then we were on the move again, making the journey across town to the marina.

RIAN’S POV

He had knocked me unconscious after my second escape attempt. My first took place shortly after we had exited the hotel. I tried to make a run for it, but then the gun he had been holding under his jacket was placed against my temple.

“Try it again and I will shoot you.”

The second time I tried to grab his gun, in retaliation he knocked me unconscious. When I opened my eyes I found myself in a wood room. The walls were wood and I felt a rocking motion. I winced as I sat up, there was a bed that took up about half the room, a closet, and two closed doors on opposite sides of the room. I was about to open one door, when the other one opened. Kevin Jackson, a person whom, until recently I thought was perfectly sane, stepped into the room. I stepped away from the door, so I didn’t trap myself between him and the wall.

“What do you want?” I practically spat at him, biting my tongue almost as soon as the words left my mouth.

“Jessica, you can stop pretending now.”

Jessica, Jessica… Why did that name sound familiar 

“Who’s Jessica?”

“I know you had to go into witness protection, but I found you. It’s okay, we can be together now. You don’t have to pretend you’re in love with that pretentious alpha-male police officer.”

“Kevin, I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you need to let me go.”

“STOP LYING JESSICA!” he screamed, slamming his hand against the door.

I jumped a little bit.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I just can’t believe you won’t trust me.”

“Kevin, if you let me go I will trust you.”

“You know I can’t do that Jess.”

“Please Kevin.”

“NO!” He yelled, slamming the door behind him.

I waited at least a minute before trying the handle of the door Kevin had slammed. The handle gave way, and the door opened slowly without a sound revealing a short hallway. I slid off my heels, laying them on the bed so I could move down the hallway silently. As I moved I felt, more than heard, a low rumble beneath my feet; almost like an engine. At the end of the hallway were a few steps going up, and as I climbed them gingerly I heard a muffled voice through the walls. I opened the door, only to come face to face with a panicked-looking Kevin.

“Why are they here? You told him you don’t love him.”

I tried to bolt, but I came to the edge and found out we were on a boat, thanks to the feet of water separating me from the dock.

My escape attempt was short-lived, a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me backwards, pressing a gun to my temple. I calmed my breathing tripping over my dress as I was pulled around to act like a body shield.

“GO AWAY!” Kevin shouted

“You know we can’t do that Mr. Jackson.”

“Yes, you can.” He yelled back at Sergeant Parker

“Not anymore, you’ve pulled a gun on Ms. Azarov.”

“Who? Jessica?”

“Her name is Rian Azarov, and she is not your fiancé.”

“Jessica was placed under witness protection! That’s why she had to change her name. But she didn’t tell me, you don’t have to relocate her.” Kevin practically begged.

Parker began going along with him “You know we have to relocate her now, give her a new name, a new life. Or those who are after her will find her.”

“No! I’m not going to give her up again.” He pressed the gun harder against my head.

“It’s like you always talked about,” he whispered in my ear, “we can go together,”

“Kevin. You need to let me go.” I whispered back. “Please.”

“Jess, you don’t have to protect me anymore. It’s okay.”

“It was never my intention to protect you. You need to know the truth.”

I was interrupted by Parker,

“Kevin, Jess was killed accidentally. You know that. You were driving.”

JULES’ POV

“Winnie, I need you to dig.” Parker said into the comms, keeping his eyes on Rian and Kevin. Kevin had Rian by the arm, holding a gun to her head.

“Sarge, he’s in the middle of a full-blown delusion.” Sam said, adjusting his rifle.

“I know.”

“What am I looking for?” Winnie asked.

“Something fishy about Jessica Gallagher’s death.”

Parker began talking to Kevin, but I was moving into a different position, looking for an unseen way onto the boat. Everyway involved swimming. Great.

“Boss I found something.” Winnie’s voice crackling over the comms, “Jessica Gallagher was the star witness in an embezzlement case against her boss. Apparently she was working late, overheard them and recorded an incriminating conversation full of details. A week after her name was listed, her car was hit by a drunk driver and she was killed. Kevin Jackson survived the crash.”

“He could be suffering from some type of survivor’s guilt.” I suggested,

“I agree Jules.” Sarge responded, “but it might be combined with something else. Maybe an existing condition?”

“So what do we do?” Spike asked, sounding frustrated,

“I think the best thing is to directly challenge his beliefs as they are, it might damage him enough to let Rian go.”

“Or he could shoot them both.” Ed said.

“Then you guys need to have a solution” Greg’s voice was curt. I think the stress was getting to us. “Ok. I’m starting.”

“Kevin, Jess was killed accidentally. You know that. You were driving.”

“No! It wasn’t an accident!”

“How! How was it an accident?”

“I walked away and she didn’t. How is that not an accident?”

“Jessica had an aneurysm. It burst during the accident, and the EMT’s didn’t understand what had happened until it was too late.” Parker’s voice was getting softer.

“… No…” Kevin’s heartbroken whisper shattered the silence. I couldn’t imagine what he was feeling. “You’re lying!” He brandished the gun in Sergeant Parker’s direction. “You have to be lying…”

“Winnie,” Parker was addressing Winnie under his breath. “Her report said the aneurysm ruptured right?”

“Yes sir.”

“Ok, can you feed my the symptoms she might’ve been having before it ruptured?”

“Think back Kevin.” Winnie started listing off possible symptoms. “She was having balance problems, right? Fatigue? There was a reason you were driving that day wasn’t there, was she having problems with her perception?”

“How…?”

“They’re all symptoms of a Cerebral Aneurysm.”

Kevin’s voice was softer. “She had a doctor’s appointment that Wednesday.” He looked down at Rian like he was just realizing something. His mouth was moving, but we couldn’t hear what he was saying. Rian said something, there was a pause, a gun shot, and silence.

RIAN’S POV

“They’re all symptoms of a cerebral aneurysm.” Greg’s voice echoed across to us. I could almost feel Kevin running out of options. His long-term belief that the love of his life was alive was slowly being ripped from him.

“She had a doctor’s appointment that Wednesday.” His voice was steady, but softer. I felt myself turning, and came face to face with him. He looked at me, searching for something that seemed to be hidden in my eyes.

“I’m so sorry.” He said, looking away, like he had failed to find what he was searching for in my eyes. “She’s really dead isn’t she. You’re not her.” His voice was bland, like he had nothing else to believe in. I shook my head,

“I’m so so sorry Kevin.”

“So am I.” Kevin’s green eyes seemed to water, before he looked at me one last time. The gun flew upwards, flashing once, before the gunshot echoed across the water.

I leaned over the side of the boat, emptying my stomach into the water. That was how they found me when they finally boarded the boat. Someone held my hair back from my face and rubbed my back, as tears and the contents of my stomach went overboard.

“It’s going to be okay.” A soft voice murmured. When I was done, I found myself enveloped in a warm blanket. Spike picked me up, and I fell asleep to the sensation of finally feeling safe.

I woke up with a start, the nightmare scaring me out of my sleep. I looked down at my left hand, and let out a sigh of relief when I saw the ring was still there.

There was a groan next to me, and I looked down to see a sleepy grin aimed my way. Spike’s brown eyes gazed at me as I lay back down. He automatically wrapped his arms around me, pinning me to him.

“Is it over?” I asked him, slightly embarrassed by how scared I sounded.

“It’s over.” He said, kissing me softly.


	16. Epilogue

August 2nd was a gorgeous day. There were a few clouds, but those were few and far between, the sky was that shade of blue you think you can only find in a crayola box and it was a balmy 68 degrees. I however, was nervous as hell. Not worried about whether I was making the right decision, but whether everything would go according to plan, was he getting cold feet? Would the food suck? What if I tripped? With that thought I glared at my shoes, 5-inch stillettos that were absolutely gorgeous, but also death-defying for me. My thumb automatically moved towards my fourth finger, trying to turn something that was no longer there. Spike had taken it, I had grown accustomed to twisting it when I got nervous, and with it gone, I just wasn’t sure what to do, I mean, I would have it back in an hour, but it wouldn’t be an engagement ring anymore.

Mrs. Rian Scarlatti. Spike had taken to calling me that teasingly, but I loved it when he did. It must’ve be about 2 years since that day on the pier, and Mia and Kennedy have both been married for about a year and a half. It’s been a while since we announced our engagement, close to 2 years but not quite and it was finally happening.. Today. In less than an hour. I looked at myself in the mirror. I was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, but my hair was elaborately curled and pinned up with pearl bobby pins and little rhinestones so when I turned my head I seemed to sparkle. The woman who had done my makeup hadn’t stopped gushing about my eyes as she applied my makeup. Whatever she had done, she hadn’t used a lot of makeup, which I loved, she made my eyes seem even bluer with black eye liner and gold eyeshadow. I was adamant on a ‘natural’ look.

“Rian!” Came sing-songy voices, and Jules, Leah, Mia, and Kennedy flitted in, all wearing identical blue dresses. Jules and Leah were carrying my dress. It was fitted until mid-thigh where it flared out a bit, with a metallic design on the top portion of the dress. I stripped down to my new wedding lingerie and stepped into the dress as Jules zipped me up. We were in hotel room directly off the courtyard where I would be getting married to the man I had dreamed of since I first met him. Mia, Kennedy, Jules, and Leah were all talking at me, telling me how pretty I looked, but I was too nervous to pay attention.

“Ready Rian?” Jules asked, smiling broadly at me in the mirror. My stomach was all butterflies as we waited for him. Luckily for me my friends knew me all too well and tried to take my mind off my nervousness by bringing up the horrible dresses we had seen in the various bridal shops.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and we all went silent automatically, laughing again after a few seconds.

Mia opened the door, allowing Sergeant Greg Parker to come in. As Spike’s father had passed away a few years ago and mine was killed when I was a child, Greg had agreed to give me away in our fathers’ stead.

“You look gorgeous Rian.” He said, kissing me on the forehead and hugging me gently.

“Thank you so much Greg,”

“It’s my pleasure, shall we?”

Together, Greg, Jules, Mia, Kennedy, Leah and I made our way downstairs.

“Adrianna!” An Italian accent drew my eyes to Spike’s mother who was running towards us. “I forgot to give you this.” She said hurriedly, showing be a gorgeous pin set with what looked like Sapphires and diamonds. “Something blue and something borrowed.” She explained, smiling. She tucked it just under my veil, which had belonged to my mother. Jules was currently carrying my veil so it didn’t get dirty and Mia had my train.

She looked like she was about to cry and I gave her a hug and she kissed me on the cheek before hurrying off. I thought I saw her wipe her eyes as she headed back out towards the garden. I received lots of smiles as I made my way through the lobby and out into the spacious gardens. I could see the wedding ceremony set up in the far corner. There were white folding chairs with a white carpet set down the middle. The chairs and the aisle were lined with white and flowers and blue ribbons. I waited just around a hedge so no one could see me.. Finally the music started. Isabelle was the flower girl, dropping flower petals all along the aisle. She was followed shortly by Leah, then Mia, Kennedy and finally Jules. Soon it was my time, the minute my glittering stiletto touched the carpet all eyes seemed to zoom straight to me, and all the blood seemed to rush straight to my cheeks. I hated being the center of attention.I ignored it and my eyes went straight to Spike, who looked absolutely stunning in his black tuxedo with white vest and black bow tie. His brown eyes were fixed on me and a broad smile graced his face. I smiled nervously back and our gazes never left each other even as I stopped in front of him. Greg kissed my forehead and passed my hand to Spike, who grabbed it and squeezed it comfortingly. I could barely remember the actual service, but then we were saying our vows and the priest was saying the words.

“Do you, Michelangelo Scarlatti, take Adrianna Raisa Azarov to be your lawfully wedded wife?

In the split second before he said the words, I thought my heart was going to explode,but luckily the words came quckly.

“I do.” He gave me a huge smile, as he slid the ring onto my finer and gazed at me happily, waiting as I was asked;

“And do you, Adrianna Raisa Azarov take Michelangelo Scarlatti to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

Spike and I stared at each other as I answered, “I do.” Sliding the silver band onto his finger.

“You may kiss the bride.” the priest said smiling at us, but neither of us were paying attention. Spike wrapped his arms around me and kissed me, softly at first and then quickly with more passion as he dipped me. We broke apart laughing as he righted me. We stood there on the altar for a split second, staring out at all our friends and family, before walking back down the aisle under a shower of flower petals and rice.


End file.
